James Franco

Actor James Franco was born in Palo Alto, California. He grew up in the Bay Area. His interest in acting began early on, and by high school he was making regular appearances in school plays. When he moved to UCLA to study literature, it dawned on him that becoming a professional actor was a serious proposition. He finished his course early to join the fracas of the Los Angeles auditioning circuit.

James first appeared on the public’s entertainment radar playing a brooding, angst-ridden teen in the (eventually to become cult) TV series Freaks and Geeks. Next, his James Dean-like looks proved more than useful when he landed the starring role in a James Dean made-for-TV movie.

A series of low-budget teen movies followed, before James picked up the part which was to catapult him into the limelight, playing Spider-Man’s troubled best-friend Harry Osborn. (James had auditioned for the part of Peter Parker, but managed to land the next best thing). The movie went on to become a blockbuster hit, spawning a lucrative franchise of two follow-up movies.

James had become a hot-property. In 2006, he co-starred with Tyrese Gibson in Annapolis, played the legendary hero Tristan in the film Tristan and Isolde, and zoomed all over the skies in the action-flick Flyboys.

Throughout his career James has managed to avoid being typecast, by choosing a wide variety of roles in different genres. In the recent comedy movie Pineapple Express, James makes a very funny scruffy pot-dealer on the run from the mob.

He may have left UCLA early the first time around, but James returned there to finish his thesis in creative writing. Then James determined to develop his writing skills further by enrolling at New York University for graduate school. James has talked about taking his writing in several directions including novels, and theatre/movie screenplays. Hopefully we’ll see some fruits of his labor sometime soon.