James Franco

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James Franco
Franco in 2013
Born
James Edward Franco

(1978-04-19) April 19, 1978 (age 46)
EducationPalo Alto High School
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Actor
  • producer
  • director
  • writer
  • painter
Years active1997–present
WorksFilmography
Relatives
AwardsFull list

James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including

Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007), Milk (2008), Eat Pray Love (2010), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). He is known for his collaborations with fellow actor Seth Rogen, having appeared in eight films and one television series with him, examples being Pineapple Express (2008), This Is the End (2013), Sausage Party (2016), and The Disaster Artist (2017), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. For his role in 127 Hours (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor
.

Franco is also known for his work on television where his first prominent acting role was the character Daniel Desario on the short-lived ensemble comedy-drama

Primetime Emmy Award. Franco had a recurring role on the daytime soap opera General Hospital (2009–2012) and starred in the limited series 11.22.63 (2016). He starred in the David Simon-created HBO drama The Deuce
(2017–2019).

Franco volunteers for The Art of Elysium charity and has taught film classes at numerous schools. He admitted to having sex with several of his students during his time as a teacher, which led to lawsuits and a $2 million sexual misconduct settlement in 2021.[1][2]

Early life

James Edward Franco was born in

Cleveland, Ohio and was an active member in the National Council of Jewish Women.[13][14][15]

Franco's family upbringing was "academic, liberal, and largely secular".

juvenile hall, he was given a second chance by the judge.[9] He recalled of his troubles with the law, "It was teen angst. I was uncomfortable in my own skin. I was shy. I changed my ways just in time to get good grades."[16]

Although the idea of becoming a

marine zoologist interested him, Franco had always secretly wanted to become an actor but feared being rejected.[9] He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as an English major,[21] but dropped out after his first year (against his parents' wishes)[18] to pursue a career as an actor, since he would have had to wait two years to audition for their acting program.[9] He instead chose to take acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West.[19] Around this time, he took up a late-night job at McDonald's to support himself because his parents refused to do so. He was a vegetarian for the year prior to working there.[22] While working at the establishment, he would practice accents on customers, an experience he remembered nostalgically in a 2015 Washington Post editorial titled "McDonald's was there for me when no one else was".[9][22]

Acting career

1997–2001

After 15 months of training, Franco began auditioning in Los Angeles. His first paid role was a television commercial for

cult hit among audiences.[25] He has since described the series as "one of the most fun" work experiences that he has had.[26] In another interview, Franco said: "When we were doing Freaks and Geeks, I didn't quite understand how movies and TV worked, and I would improvise even if the camera wasn't on me ... So I was improvising a little bit back then, but not in a productive way."[17] After his film debut Never Been Kissed, he played a popular jock Chris in Whatever It Takes (2000), a modern-day remake of the 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac.[27][28]

He was subsequently cast as the

2002–2007

Franco achieved worldwide fame and attention in the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man, when he played Harry Osborn, the son of the villainous Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and best friend of Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire). Originally, Franco was considered for the lead role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the film.[35] Todd McCarthy of Variety noted that there are "good moments" between Maguire and Franco in the film.[36] Spider-Man was a commercial and critical success.[37] The movie grossed $114 million during its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $822 million worldwide.[38]

Franco at the Spider-Man 3 premiere, April 2007

He next starred in

seminal horror film. Also in 2006, he made a cameo appearance in the romantic comedy The Holiday.[30]

Franco, preparing to ride in the Blue Angels No. 7, with Patrick Palma in a two-seat F/A-18B, in August 2006

He again played Harry Osborn in

Tribeca Film Festival and tells the story of two talented brothers who take very diverse paths in life, one going on to become a doctor whilst the other sibling (Franco) experiences unemployment and uses drugs. The actor chose to cast himself in that role because, "It was really just a process of elimination. I was better suited for this role than the responsible surgeon".[43]

2008–2010

He next starred in

Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.[32] He has stated in some interviews that he no longer uses cannabis (although he has occasionally alluded to smoking it, most notably during an extended segment on The Colbert Report).[47] He was awarded High Times magazine's Stoner of the Year Award for his work in Pineapple Express.[48] In 2008 he also appeared in two films by American artist Carter, exhibited at the Yvon Lambert gallery in Paris.[49] On September 20, 2008, he hosted the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL),[50] and a second time on December 19, 2009.[51]

Franco at the premiere of 127 Hours

Franco starred with

multimedia artist much like himself,[18] who comes to Port Charles to do an art exhibition and becomes obsessed with Jason Morgan (Steve Burton).[55] Franco has called his General Hospital role performance art.[56]

Franco began 2010 by making an appearance on the sitcom

Berlin Film Festival and earned modest reviews.[37]

In his next project,

Academy Award
, Golden Globe and SAG award, as well as winning an Independent Spirit Award.

2011–present

On February 23, 2011, Franco made a cameo appearance on

Medieval fantasy comedy Your Highness.[63] In the film, he plays Fabious, a prince who teams up with his brother (McBride) to rescue the soon to be bride of Fabious (played by Zooey Deschanel). In May 2010, he was cast to star in Rupert Wyatt's $93 million budgeted Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a reboot of the Planet of the Apes series[64] which was released on August 5. Franco starred alongside Winona Ryder in The Letter, originally entitled The Stare, directed by Jay Anania. He was cast as a drug-addicted lawyer in About Cherry, also starring Heather Graham, which started shooting the following month in California.[65] He dropped out of the indie film While We're Young[66] to star in Oz the Great and Powerful, a Disney prequel to L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). Filming began in July 2011, and the film was released on March 8, 2013. He has signed to do a sequel to it.[67][68]

At the end of September 2010, the actor acquired the rights to

As I Lay Dying; [71] the film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[72] In late 2013, Franco starred in This Is the End as a fictionalized version of himself stuck in a house during an apocalypse with Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, and Danny McBride, also fictionalized versions of themselves.[73]

In February 2012, Franco began shooting a film version of Cormac McCarthy's 1973 novella Child of God, which stars Scott Haze as Lester Ballard. The film chronicles the depraved and violent impulses of the young Tennessee backwoodsman after he is dispossessed of his ancestral land. Child of God was selected in official competition at the 70th Venice Film Festival, an official selection to the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and an official selection to the prestigious 51st New York Film Festival. In 2013, Franco starred as the gangster "Alien" in Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, with Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Gucci Mane and Rachel Korine. A24 films began a campaign in September 2013 in support of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Franco's performance.[74] In March 2013, it was announced that Franco was set to make his 2014 Broadway stage debut in the role of George in a revival of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.[75] In October 2013, Franco appeared in the music video for "City of Angels" by Thirty Seconds to Mars.[76]

On March 8, 2013, Franco received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard.[77]

Franco at the New York Film Critics Series premiere of Child of God

In April 2014, Franco directed and appeared in "Techno Color Sunglasses", which promoted Gucci's eyewear collection.

2014 Sony hacking incident.[79] In April 2015, two of his projects, titled I Am Michael and True Story, were shown at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. In I Am Michael, Franco plays a gay activist who rejects his homosexuality and becomes a conservative Christian pastor with a girlfriend. In True Story, based on a true story, Franco played Christian Longo, a man who was on the FBI's most wanted list for murdering his wife and three children in Oregon, and who had also been hiding under the identity of Michael Finkel, a journalist played by Jonah Hill.[80]

In 2015, Franco was cast in the lead role for the

Joseph Kerekes who (along with his partner) was convicted of the murder. In the comedy Why Him?, released in December 2016, Franco played an immature tech-billionaire whose girlfriend's conservative father tries to intervene in the couple's relationship, with Zoey Deutch playing the girlfriend and Bryan Cranston as her father.[83] He briefly appeared in the Alien prequel, Alien: Covenant, alongside friend and frequent collaborator Danny McBride, and Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace. He played Branson, the captain of the Covenant ship and husband to Daniels, played by Katherine Waterston. The film was released on May 19, 2017.[84]

In 2016, Franco directed, co-produced, and starred in The Disaster Artist, the film adaptation of actor Greg Sestero's non-fiction book of the same name, about the making of The Room, which is considered to be one of worst films ever made.[85] In the film, Franco portrayed the film's star, director, screenwriter, and producer Tommy Wiseau, while Franco's brother, Dave, portrayed Sestero.[86] Franco remained in character as Wiseau throughout the entirety of the shoot.[87] The Disaster Artist was released on December 1, 2017, to positive reviews, while his portrayal of Wiseau gained near-universal praise.[88] His performance won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.[89]

At the end of 2017, Franco, almost 40, said he was slowing down to focus on himself.[90] On December 23, 2021, Franco gave his first interview in nearly four years when he appeared on an episode of the Jess Cagle Podcast.[91] In August 2022, Franco was cast as Fidel Castro in Alina in Cuba, a casting decision that was supported by Fidel Castro's daughter.[92][93]

Other projects

Franco signing an autograph

Franco produced and directed a documentary titled

NYU class but grew due to his two episodes as host, while short stories he wrote for other classes appeared in Esquire and McSweeney's.[18] In summer 2010, the fictional Franco from General Hospital held an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, while the real Franco held an exhibit at the museum based on his experiences on the soap opera.[18]

In 2008, Franco was named as the face of Gucci's men's fragrance line.[95][96] His short films as director The Feast of Stephen and Herbert White were both presented within Maryland Film Festival in May 2010. Another of his short movies, The Clerk's Tale, was screened in competition at the Hamptons Film Festival at the end of 2010.[69] In June 2010, James Franco presented his first solo exhibition, "The Dangerous Book Four Boys", presented at The Clocktower Gallery in New York City. Curated by Alanna Heiss, the show featured video, drawings, sculptures and installation.[97][98]

On October 19, 2010,

marijuana, and taking part in unplanned acts of violence. Each passage is told by a young narrator.[101] The book has received mixed reviews; Los Angeles Times called it "the work of an ambitious young man who clearly loves to read, who has a good eye for detail, but who has spent way too much time on style and virtually none on substance".[99] The Guardian reported that Franco's "foray into the literary world may be met with cynicism in some quarters, but this is a promising debut from a most unlikely source".[102] Writing in The New York Times, reviewer and fellow author Joshua Mohr praised Franco for how, in the story "American History", he juxtaposed historical parts with a present-day social commentary that "makes the we wonder how much we've actually evolved in post-bellum America".[103] At least one editor of a literary journal testified he would not publish Franco's stories, claiming he has been published due to his star power, not literary talent.[104] Publishers Weekly reviewed the collection, stating "The author fails to find anything remotely insightful to say in these 11 amazingly underwhelming stories".[105]

In January 2011, Franco screened his multimedia project, entitled Three's Company The Drama, in which he merges video and art to update the titular sitcom, at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.[106] Franco reunited with Milk director Van Sant to make Unfinished, a project that features two movies: Endless Idaho and My Own Private River. Endless Idaho showcases edited outtakes, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage from the 1991 movie My Own Private Idaho, while My Own Private River focuses on actor River Phoenix.[107] The idea for the exhibition was conceived after Van Sant introduced unused footage from the 1991 film to Franco, inspiring him to turn it into something more. Unfinished opened from February 26 to April 9 at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills.[107]

Franco at the Austin Film Festival, October 23, 2011

On February 27, 2011, he and Anne Hathaway hosted the 83rd Academy Awards. The two were selected to help the awards show achieve its goal of attracting a younger audience.[108] Franco had previously said that he accepted the job for the experience and because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.[109] Numerous media viewers criticized Franco for his discontent and lack of energy on stage and the show was widely panned, with some reviewers dubbing it the worst telecast in its history.[110][111][112] The actor later spoke about his hosting in an interview on the Late Show with David Letterman. He explained that when accepting the job he never had high hopes, adding "It was never on my list of things to do. It doesn't mean I didn't care and it doesn't mean I didn't try, right?" Regarding allegations that he was under the influence of marijuana while hosting, Franco commented "I think the Tasmanian Devil would look stoned standing next to Anne Hathaway. She has a lot of energy!" He concluded that he tried his best and could have had "low energy" during the telecast.[113]

In May, Franco made his dance-theater directorial debut at New York's Stella Adler Studios, where he narrated all the performances. Entitled "Collage" and described as a "mixed-media piece", the show featured live dance, theater, music, and poetry. Tickets were free but were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Los Angeles Film Festival  – among more than 200 feature films, short projects, and music videos from more than 30 countries.[118] It was released on DVD in 2012.[119]

In 2011, Franco taught a graduate-level film course at New York University's

Franco developed an aptitude for art—painting in particular—during his high school years while attending the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA).[19] Franco has said painting was the "outlet" he needed in high school, and he "has actually been painting longer than he has been acting".[124] His paintings were displayed publicly for the first time at the Glü Gallery in Los Angeles, from January 7, through February 11, 2006.[19][125] He launched his first European art exhibition in 2011 at Peres Projects in Berlin.[101]

In September 2012, Franco announced the release of his band Daddy's first single Love in the Old Days and their first EP MotorCity.[126] On July 9, 2013, Franco announced that he would be the featured roastee on the next Comedy Central Roast.[127] The roast aired on September 2, 2013.[128]

In February 2014, Franco wrote an article in The New York Times in support of the metamodernist performance art of Shia LaBeouf, describing LaBeouf's project as one "in which a young man in a very public profession tries to reclaim his public persona".[129][130] In April 2014, the literary publisher Graywolf Press issued Franco's first collection of poetry, Directing Herbert White. The title alludes to a poem (made by Franco into a 2010 short film) by Frank Bidart, who has served as friend and mentor to Franco.[131]

In the media

Viewed as a

Salon.[132] There has often been frequent media coverage of Franco, particularly regarding his interest in going to colleges. In addition to that, Franco has also claimed to have been strongly misquoted by reports in the media[133] and news outlets reporting erroneous information about him.[134] This led to the actor being parodied in an episode of SNL's Weekend Update segment, which an Entertainment Weekly writer deemed "clever".[135] In a 2011 interview, he stated:

I've been perceived as this guy yelling, 'Hey, look at me. I want attention'. I'm not going to school to get articles written about me. I'm just going to school. But the fact that I'm going to school or that someone takes a picture of me sleeping is like, 'We're gonna jump on that and criticize him for his antics'. What antics? I write. I make movies. I'm going to school. I hosted the Oscars. I take these projects seriously.[133]

Franco has deliberately garnered a reputation for publishing "selfies" and wrote an explanatory article for The New York Times in December 2013. He stated:

[A] well-stocked collection of selfies seems to get attention. And attention seems to be the name of the game when it comes to social networking. In this age of too much information at a click of a button, the power to attract viewers amid the sea of things to read and watch is power indeed. It's what the movie studios want for their products, it's what professional writers want for their work, it's what newspapers want — hell, it's what everyone wants: attention. Attention is power.[136]

In April 2012, Shalom Life ranked Franco and his brother, Dave, together as number two on its list of 50 talented and attractive Jewish men.[137] In 2013, Franco was featured as the cover model and featured focus in the men's magazine Man of the World.[138]

In other forms of media, a Chicago-based theater company, Under the Gun Theater, developed a show inspired by and titled after Franco. The 2015 production of Dear James Franco used, parodied and deconstructed letters penned to or by celebrities. The performances used improvisation to satirize their subject matter.[139]

Personal life

Religion

Franco has described himself as

bar mitzvah ceremony, presided over by a rabbi.[140]

Relationships and sexuality

Due to his support for the LGBT community and his portrayal of gay characters in his projects, Franco's sexuality has been a subject of discussion in media sources.[141] In a March 2015 interview with Four Two Nine magazine, Franco again opened up about his sexuality, stating, "In the twenties and thirties, they used to define homosexuality by how you acted and not by whom you slept with. Sailors would fuck guys all the time, but as long as they behaved in masculine ways, they weren't considered gay. Well, I like to think that I'm gay in my art and straight in my life."[142]

After meeting on the set of Whatever It Takes in 1999, Franco dated co-star Marla Sokoloff for five years.[143] He was later in a relationship with actress Ahna O'Reilly until 2011.[143][144] He confirmed their separation in an interview for Playboy magazine's August 2011 issue, saying that his interest in education got between them.[133]

Education

Franco, dissatisfied with his career's direction,

Mona Simpson.[18]

Franco was selected as the commencement speaker at UCLA, and was to speak at the ceremony on June 12, 2009. Several months before commencement, an editorial in the student newspaper questioned his "caliber" and a student created a

Harvard Lampoon released a satirical video on prominent comedy website Funny or Die mocking his last-minute cancellation.[150]

Franco moved to New York to simultaneously attend graduate school at

low-residency MFA Program for Writers at North Carolina's Warren Wilson College for poetry.[18] He received his M.F.A. from Columbia in 2010.[152] As of 2010, Franco was studying in the Ph.D. program in English at Yale University.[153][154] He has also attended the Rhode Island School of Design.[18]

In an interview with Showbiz411, on September 23, 2010, Franco made the erroneous public announcement that he received a "D" grade in "Acting" class at the NYU Graduate Film School.

Howard Stern Show, stating that he had told the professor before the semester began that he would have to miss most classes to film 127 Hours and that they had agreed that Franco would receive a "D" in the course.[160]

In March 2013, Franco was featured in half-page print advertisements for his alma mater UCLA which celebrated the university's famous alumnus as a "prolific academic" and carried the tagline: "Some A-Listers Actually Get A's".[161]

Sexual misconduct accusations and lawsuit