28 interesting facts about James Franco! (List)

Read them in the list below!

1. Actor James Franco was born in Palo Alto, California, on April 19, 1978.

2. He landed his breakthrough role in the NBC series Freaks and Geeks in 1999.

3. In 2002 he took on the role of Harry Osborne, son of the villainous Green Goblin, in Spider-Man (2002). The actor would return to play the character in the following two installments of the film franchise—Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).

4. He is the eldest of three brothers born to Doug Franco and writer/editor Betsy Levine.

5. He made his film debut in 1999’s Never Been Kissed, followed by the 2000 romantic comedy Whatever It Takes.

6. Franco re-enrolled at UCLA as a creative writing major in 2006, taking an accelerated course load while continuing to act. He completed his degree two years later, graduating with a GPA of 3.5/4.

7. His performance in 2001’s TNT cable biopic James Dean earned Franco a 2002 Golden Globe Award for best actor.

8. He starred in the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes (2000).

9. Franco attended Palo Alto High School, where he became known for his rebellious ways.

10. Later credits include the Spider-Man franchise, Flyboys, Tristan + Isolde, Milk, Eat Pray Love and 127 Hours, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for best actor.

11. Franco made his film debut in the Drew Barrymore vehicle Never Been Kissed (1999).

12. After graduating from high school in 1996, Franco briefly attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied English and drama.

13. His portrayal of the iconic actor earned him the Golden Globe Award for best actor in 2002. Franco later said that he prepared for the role by picking up smoking—two packs of cigarettes a day.

14. Working the late shift at McDonald’s to make ends meet, Franco appeared in his first major role at the age of 19, as Brian on the crime drama series Pacific Blue (1997).

15. In 2002, James Franco appeared alongside Robert DeNiro and Frances McDormand in the crime drama City by the Sea, and starred as a male prostitute turned soldier in the Nicolas Cage film Sonny

16. After 15 months of intensive study with noted drama coach Robert Carnegie at the North Hollywood acting school/theater Playhouse West, in 1999, Franco landed his breakthrough role: as heartthrob/bad boy Daniel Desario on the critically acclaimed but short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000), which also starred Seth Rogen, Busy Philipps, Jason Segel and Linda Cardellini. The teen comedy soon gained a cult-like following.

17. He played the recurring role of Franco (yes, really) on “General Hospital” in 2009. Betsy Franco, his real-life mother, played his character’s mother in the soap, too.

18. In the Nicolas Cage directed “Sonny,” Franco plays a discharged soldier returning to his hustler past. He shadowed a male prostitute to prepare for the role.

19. While hosting the Oscars with Anne Hathaway, Franco dressed up in drag. Franco was widely panned for his hosting efforts.

20. His favorite film is Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho” (1991). Franco worked with Van Sant on 2008’s “Milk.”

21. Franco directed two short films set to R.E.M. songs, and one of the videos featured Lindsay Lohan.

22. Franco was the latest target of The Comedy Central Roast. The special aired in September, and features friends and former castmates, like Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Aziz Ansari, Bill Hader, and more.

23. Since high school, and long before he started acting, Franco has enjoyed painting in his spare time.

24. Franco re-imagined classic sitcom “Three’s Company” as a dramatic short for the Sundance Film Festival.

25. After meeting on set, Franco and “Whatever It Takes” co-star Marla Sokoloff dated for five years.

26. Franco is of Russian-Jewish heritage on his mother’s side, and of Portuguese and Swedish heritage on his father’s side.

27. He was named Premiere magazine’s Most Handsome Hollywood Man in 2009.

28.  Younger brother Dave Franco followed in James’s footsteps and became an actor. Besides starring in “21 Jump Street,” the two can be seen together in the Funny or Die series “Acting With James Franco.”