James Johnston (born 1966) is a British musician and film actor.

In the 1990s he founded the alternative rock band Gallon Drunk, with Michael Delanian and Joe Byfield. He has also worked with a number of other musicians such as Barry Adamson and Lydia Lunch and has frequently toured Europe and the U.S. In 2001 he became a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He has been playing with Faust since 2006 and is now an official member. He has acted in a number of independent movies including Clean by Olivier Assayas, and played the lead in Ken Russell's Fall of the Louse of Usher. He is married to independent film maker and painter Geraldine Swayne, who made one of the first experimental IMAX movies in 2000. Together, Swayne and Johnston front the experimental band ...bender, along with band founder and photographer Steve Gullick.

James Johnston (??-June 16 1849) was a businessman and political figure in Upper Canada.

He was born in Ireland and came to Canada in 1815, moving to Bytown in 1827. He worked as an auctioneer and merchant there. He was a member of the Orange Order and for a short time, operated a newspaper, the Bytown Independent, and Farmer’s Advocate, which he used mainly as a platform to criticize a number of prominent political figures of the time. In 1837, he suffered a number of attacks from organized Irish thugs known as Shiners. Johnston had complained to Lieutenant Governor Sir Francis Bond Head against their leader, Peter Aylen, because of his apparent immunity to the law. Aylen's men attacked him in his home and then attempted to kill him while he was returning home at night. These incidents helped establish the need for police services in the town.

In 1841, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada representing Carleton and he was reelected in 1844. He helped promote the interests of his area and lobbied for the selection of Bytown as a capital. Although he originally considered himself a Reformer, he opposed responsible government. In 1846, he resigned; he ran unsuccessfully in the resulting by-election.

He died in Bytown in 1849.

James Roberto Johnston (born on 25 April 1980 in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland) is a bassist, vocalist, and songwriter, best known for his work with Scottish group Biffy Clyro.