James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, author, painter and performance artist. He began acting during the late 1990s, appearing on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and starring in several teen films. He achieved international fame with his portrayals of Harry Osborn in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, drug dealer Saul Silver in Pineapple Express and Aron Ralston in 127 Hours. His other well known films include Milk, Tristan & Isolde, Flyboys, Date Night, Your Highness, Eat Pray Love and the upcoming Planet of the Apes reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He has been nominated for three Golden Globe awards, winning one, and received an Academy Award nomination for his work in 127 Hours.* 1 Early life and family * 2 Acting career o 2.1 Early work o 2.2 2002–2007 o 2.3 2008–2010 o 2.4 2011–present * 3 Other projects * 4 Charitable work * 5 Personal life * 6 Filmography * 7 Selected works * 8 References * 9 External linksFranco was born in Palo Alto, California. His mother, Betsy Lou (née Verne), is a poet, author, and editor, and his father, Douglas Eugene Franco, runs a non-profit agency and a shipping container company; the two met as students at Stanford University Franco's father is of Portuguese and Swedish descent and Franco's mother is Jewish, a descndant of immigrants from Russia (her family's surname had been changed from "Verovitz" to "Verne His paternal grandmother, Marjorie (Peterson) Franco, was a published author of young adult books his maternal grandmother, Mitzie (Levine) Verne, owns the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, and was an active member in the National Council of Jewish Women.Franco grew up in California with his two younger brothers, Tom and Dave, the latter of whom is also an actorTalented at mathematics, Franco interned at Lockheed MartinHe graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he acted in plays. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles ( an English major but dropped out after his freshman year against his parents' wishes to pursue a career as an actor, taking acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West Around this time Franco took up a late-night job at McDonald's. He was aAfter 15 months of training, he began auditioning in Los Angeles, California, and got his first break in 1999, after he was cast in a leading role on the short-lived but well-reviewed television series Freaks and Geeks.Franco has since described the series as "one of the most fun" work experiences that he has had 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. His first major film was the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes (2000), in which he co-starred with Marla Sokoloff. was subsequently cast as the title role in director Mark Rydell's 2001 TV biopic James Dean immerse himself in the role, Franco went from being a non-smoker to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, dyed his dark brown hair blond, and learned to ride a motorcycle as well as play guitar and the bongos.To have a greater understanding of Dean, Franco spent hours with two of Dean's associates. Other research included reading books on Dean and studying his movies While filming James Dean, the actor, to get into character, cut off communication with his family and friends, as well as his then-girlfriend. "It was a very lonely existence," he notes. "If I wasn't on a set, I was watching James Dean. That was my whole thinking. James Dean. James DeanDespite already being a fan of Dean, Franco feared he might be typecast if he'd captured the actor too convincingly. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Franco could have walked through the role and done a passable Dean, but instead gets under the skin of this insecure, rootless young man He received a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild AwardJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames FrancoJames Franco
