James Hayden was an American actor from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Apart from starring on Broadway, he is best known for playing Patrick "Patsy" Goldberg in the 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America.

Hayden trained and served as a medic in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. On his discharge, he returned to New York, attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and began working as an actor. In 1983, the year of his death, he portrayed a heroin addict in the critically acclaimed Broadway play American Buffalo, co-starring with his close friend Al Pacino.