James Franco

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Franco as Tristan in Tristan and Isolde, 2006

James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is a Golden Globe-winning American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his lead roles in several Hollywood films, including Tristan & Isolde, Annapolis, TV's James Dean, and for playing Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man film series.

Contents

1 Biography

1.1 Early life
1.2 Career
1.3 Personal life

2 Selected filmography
3 References

3.1 Footnotes
3.2 Interviews
3.3 Web sites

Biography

Early life

Franco was born in Palo Alto, California to Doug Franco and Betsy Levine Verne (a poet, author and editor); his maternal grandmother runs the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, Ohio. Franco's father is of Portuguese and Swedish descent, while his mother is Jewish, a descendant of immigrants from Russia. He grew up in California with his two younger brothers, Tom and David, and graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he was elected by his senior class as the boy with the "best smile". He then enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles as an English major, and studied acting. Much to the disapproval of his parents, he dropped out after his freshman year and chose to pursue a professional career as an actor, taking acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West. After fifteen 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.

Career

Franco's first major film was the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes (2000). He was subsequently cast as James Dean in director Mark Rydell's 2001 biographical TV film of the same name. The role brought Franco much critical acclaim, and he was distinguished in 2002 with a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominated for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. After seeing him in James Dean, actor Robert De Niro handpicked Franco to play his son in the drama City by the Sea.

Franco was originally considered for the lead role of Peter Parker in the film version of Spider-Man, but was instead cast in the supporting role of Harry Osborn, the son of the villainous Green Goblin. Both Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004) were very well-received critically and commercially, and Franco has since co-starred with Neve Campbell in The Company (2003).

In 2006, Franco co-starred with Tyrese Gibson in Annapolis and played legendary hero Tristan in Tristan and Isolde, a dramatisation of the Tristan and Iseult story also starring English actress Sophia Myles. He received a pilot's license in preparation for an upcoming film, Flyboys.

Franco has signed to return in Spider-Man 3, currently scheduled for release on May 4, 2007.

Personal life

Franco lives in Los Angeles. He has dated actress Marla Sokoloff, with whom he co-starred in the film "Whatever It Takes". Franco, who was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Hottest Bachelors of 2004, paints extensively in his free time and even attended a private painting school during his teen years. His works have already been displayed in art galleries in and around Los Angeles.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Spider-Man 3	Harry Osborn	post-production
	An American Crime		post-production
	The Dead Girl		filming
2006	Flyboys	Rawlings	post-production
	Good Time Max	Max	post-production
	Annapolis	Jake Huard
	Tristan and Isolde	Tristan
2005	The Ape	Harry Walker	direct-to-video
2005	The Great Raid	Captain Prince
2004	Spider-Man 2	Harry Osborn
2003	The Company	Josh
2002	City By The Sea	Joey
	Spider-Man	Harry Osborn
	Deuces Wild	Tino
2000	Whatever It Takes	Chris Campbell

References

Footnotes

Interviews

Web sites

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