Best Known As: Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man movies
James Franco is best known as Harry Osborn -- Green Goblin, Jr. -- in the Sam RaimiSpider-Man movies (2002-07). He grew up in California and, after one year of college, began his acting career with small roles in TV productions in 1997. Fans remember Franco from the short-lived but critically acclaimed series Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000, starring Linda Cardellini), but his career breakthrough came with his Emmy-nominated portrayal of James Dean in the 2001 TV movie James Dean. Although he lost the role of Spider-man to Tobey Maguire, he landed the role of Osborn, the son of the villainous Green Goblin (played by Willem Dafoe). In addition to that movie's sequels, Franco has appeared in City by the Sea (2002, starring Robert DeNiro), The Company (2003, with Neve Campbell) and Flyboys (2006). He also co-wrote, directed and starred in the 2007 feature Good Time Max.
Career Highlights: Spider-Man 2, Freaks and Geeks, Spider-Man
First Major Screen Credit: Freaks and Geeks (1999)
Biography
Well known for his works as teen heartthrob on the NBC series Freaks and Geeks and films like Never Been Kissed (1999) starring Drew Barrymore, James Franco has the dark, refined looks of a classic movie star. Indeed, he was cast in the TNT film James Dean playing the screen legend himself, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in 2002.
Born on April 19, 1978, Franco has lived in California throughout his life. After high school, he studied acting intensely under Robert Carnegie, Jeff Goldblum, and Tony Savant. He also spent time training at the Playhouse West in North Hollywood.
Soon after landing the role as dark and pessimistic Daniel on Freaks and Geeks, where the teenage crowd found his performance accessible and realistic, Franco would earn a series of roles in teen-oriented motion pictures. Along with Never Been Kissed, he appeared in Whatever It Takes, on the set of which he met girlfriend Marla Sokoloff, a fellow actor. In a film about a group of "bad" students called Mean People Suck (2000), Franco appeared in the role of Casey, and then starred in Blind Spot in 2001.
After retaining heartthrob status with his award-winning performance as James Dean, he would appear in Deuces Wild (2002), a '50s-style gang drama. That same year, he played the part of Harry Osborn in the live-action rendition of Stan Lee's superhero comic Spider Man, also starring Tobey Maguire, Willem Defoe, and Kirsten Dunst. The following year would find an emerging Franco in his most dramatically challenging role to date, as a murder suspect who happens to be the son of an NYPD police detective (Robert DeNiro) in City by the Sea. Impressed by Franco's turn as flm legend James Dean, DeNiro personally lobbied to have Franco cast in the film. Franco would continue to work with talented collaborators, landing a role in Robert Altman's ballet movie The Company in 2003. He returned to the role of Harry Osbourn in Spider-Man 2 a year after that. 2005 was a busy year for the young actor who directed an adaptation of his own play, The Ape, and starred in a couple of historical dramas. Neither The Great Raid nor Tristan & Isolde made much of an impression with audiences, but the films showed an actor willing to try new things. He was back in theaters early in 2006 with the Naval Academy/boxing movie Annapolis. That fall he again appeared in theaters in the World War 1 drama Flyboys, directed by Tony Bill. He also agreed to reprise the role of Harry Osborn one more time in Spider-Man 3. ~ Sarah Sloboda, All Movie Guide
Franco was born in Palo Alto, California to Betsy Levine (née Verne), a poet, author and editor, and Doug Franco. His
maternal grandmother, Mitzi Levine, runs the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, Ohio.[1] Franco's
father is of Portuguese and Swedish
descent,[2] while his mother is
Jewish,[3] a descendant of immigrants from Russia. Franco 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. Franco has since described the series as "one of the most fun" work experiences
that he has had.[4]
In 2006, Franco co-starred with Tyrese Gibson in Annapolis and played legendary hero Tristan in Tristan & Isolde, a dramatization of the Tristan and Iseult story also starring English actress
Sophia Myles. He then trained with the stunt team "The Blue Angels" and received a
pilot's license in preparation for his role in Flyboys,[6]
which was released in September of 2006; the same month, Franco appeared briefly in The Wicker Man, a horror film starring Nicolas Cage
(who directed him in Sonny).
Franco's next role was in Spider-Man 3, released on May
1,[7]2007. He is
scheduled to star in several other films due for a 2007 release, including Pineapple
Express, a comedy co-starring Seth Rogen and written and produced by
Judd Apatow, both of whom worked with Franco on Freaks
and Geeks.[4] Franco made cameo appearances in The Holiday and Knocked Up. He was also featured in the mockumentary, "Finding Ben Stone", on the two-disc edition of
Knocked Up, where he gets fired from the lead role.
Art
Art — painting in particular — is a talent Franco developed
during his high school years while attending a private painting school, CSSSA. Franco has said that painting was the "outlet" he needed in high
school, and that he "has actually been painting longer than he has been acting."[8] His paintings were displayed publicly for the first time at the
Glü Gallery in Los Angeles,
California from January 7,
2006 through February 11, 2006.
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