Ellis was born in Nashville, Tennessee to Henry Ellis (an auditor and teacher) and Elsa Ellis. James Ellis grew up in Orlando, Florida. Before developing Usenet, Ellis attended Duke University. After graduating, Ellis worked for the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina in Research Triangle Park, N.C. He later worked as an Internet security consultant for Sun Microsystems. He was also Manager of Technical Development at CERT. He came up with the word Usenet.[1]
Ellis and Truscott were awarded the 1995 USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award.[1]