UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 3 INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person James, Thomas A. 880 Carillon Parkway St. Petersburg, FL 33716 USA 2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year) 10/23/02 3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary) 4. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol Outback Steakhouse, Inc. OSI 5. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable) (X) Director ( ) 10% Owner ( ) Officer (give title below) ( ) Other (specify below) 6. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year) 7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line) (X) Form filed by One Reporting Person ( ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| 1. Title of Security |2. Amount of |3. Ownership |4. Nature of Indirect | | Securities | Form: | Beneficial Ownership | | Beneficially | Direct(D) or | | | Owned | Indirect(I) | | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| Common stock, par value $.01 |5,000 |D | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Table II -- Derivative Securitites Beneficially Owned | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| 1.Title of Derivative |2.Date Exer- |3.Title and Amount | |4. Conver-|5. Owner- |6. Nature of Indirect | Security | cisable and | of Underlying | |sion or |ship | Beneficial Ownership | | Expiration | Securities | |exercise |Form of | | | Date(Month/ |-----------------------|---------|price of |Deriv- | | | Day/Year) | |Amount |deri- |ative | | | Date | Expira- | |or |vative |Security: | | | Exer- | tion | Title |Number of|Security |Direct(D) or | | | cisable | Date | |Shares | |Indirect(I) | | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| Stock Option (right to b|(1) |10/23/12 |Common Stock |45,000 |$30.60 |D | | uy) | | | | | | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| Explanation of Responses: (1) The option vests in three annual installments beginnig on 10/23/2003, in the respective amounts of 15,000 shares, 15,000 shares and 15,000 shares. SIGNATURE OF REPORTING PERSON Thomas A. James