James Hetfield

James Alan Hetfield is an American musician and songwriter best known for being the co-founder, lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionally performs lead guitar duties and solos, both live and in the studio. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering an advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler. Metallica has won nine Grammy Awards and released ten studio albums, three live albums, four extended plays and 24 singles. In 2009, Hetfield was ranked at no. 8 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists and no. 24 by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time. In Guitar World's poll, Hetfield was placed as the 19th greatest guitarist of all time, as well as being placed second (along with Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett) in The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists poll of the same magazine. Rolling Stone placed Hetfield as the 87th greatest guitarist of all time. This page is based on a Wikipedia article written by contributors. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.

James Hetfield is known for work in acting across film and television. New Release currently presents 18 verified screen credits connected to this profile. Selected work includes Metallica: M72 Tour - Budapest, Day 2 (2026), Metallica: M72 Tour - Budapest, Day 1 (2026), The Thicket (2024), Phil Lynott: Songs for While I'm Away (2020), Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019), Sad Hill Unearthed (2018), Carpool Karaoke: The Series (2017), Skylanders Academy (2016). The recorded credits span 1991 to 2026, including 14 movies and 4 TV shows. The filmography below lists available titles, release years and known roles. This profile is updated as additional verified information becomes available.