E. L. James fastest selling paperback of all time. In 2012, "Time" magazine named her one of "The World's 100 Most Influential People." The novels were subsequently adapted into the films "Fifty Shades of Grey", "Fifty Shades Darker", and "Fifty Shades Freed". Erika Mitchell was born on 7 March 1963 in Willesden, Middlesex to a Chilean mother and a Scottish father who was a BBC cameraman. She was brought up in Buckinghamshire. James was educated at the independent Pipers Corner School and at Wycombe High School, a state grammar school for girls in the town of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, followed by the
E. L. James University of Kent in South East England where she studied History. After leaving university, James became a studio manager’s assistant at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield. She married Niall Leonard, a screenwriter, in 1987, and they have two teenage sons. As of 2012, they reside in Brentford, west London. James says the idea for the "Fifty Shades" trilogy began as a response to the vampire novel series "Twilight". In late 2008 James saw the movie "Twilight", and then became intensely absorbed with the novels that the movie was based on. She read the novels several times over