James Franco is an American actor and filmmaker. He began acting on television, guest-starring in Pacific Blue (1997). He landed his breakthrough role in the comedy-drama television series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000). After his film debut in Never Been Kissed (1999), Franco won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film and was nominated for Screen Actors Guild Award and Primetime Emmy Award in the same categories for playing the eponymous actor in the 2001 television biopic James Dean. He went on to play Harry Osborn in the superhero film Spider-Man (2002), and reprised the role in its sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). For the last of the three, he garnered a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. His only screen appearance of 2003 was in the ballet film The Company. Franco directed and starred in the comedy The Ape (2005).

After playing one of the title roles in the romantic drama Tristan & Isolde (2006), Franco starred in the Tony Bill-directed war drama Flyboys (2006). Two years later, he played against type in the action-comedy film Pineapple Express, and earned critical acclaim for portraying Scott Smith in the biographical film Milk alongside Sean Penn. For the former, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Comedy. Franco portrayed the trapped canyoneer Aron Ralston in 127 Hours (2010), a survival drama, which earned him nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award, all for Best Actor. Franco appeared in four films in 2011, including the poorly-received fantasy film Your Highness, and the science fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), a critical and commercial success.

Franco had six roles in 2012 none of which had much success except the crime-comedy film Spring Breakers, in which he played a gangster to highly positive reviews. The following year, Franco played the title role in the fantasy film Oz the Great and Powerful, and the disaster film This Is the End saw him play a fictional version of himself. For the first one, he was nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - Fantasy. Also in 2013, he directed and starred in the drama As I Lay Dying. He starred in the action thriller Good People (2014), an adaptation of Marcus Sakey's 2008 novel of the same name. In the 2014 controversial satirical comedy The Interview, he was seen as a journalist instructed to assassinate a North Korean leader. He had nine film releases in 2015, most of which failed financially except the animated film The Little Prince, a modest commercial success. In 2017, Franco directed and starred in The Disaster Artist as Tommy Wiseau, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Film

As actor Year Title Role Notes Ref(s) 1999 Never Been Kissed 2000 Whatever It Takes If Tomorrow Comes Devin 2001 Mean People Suck Short film 2002 Spider-Man Deuces Wild Mother Ghost Sonny City by the Sea 2003 2004 Spider-Man 2 2005 Fool's Gold Brent 2006 Tristan & Isolde Prince Tristan Annapolis Bar Guy #1 Flyboys Derek Himself Uncredited cameo2007 Interview Voice on phone Voice, cameo Finishing the Game Knocked Up Himself Uncredited cameo Spider-Man 3Harry Osborn / New Goblin Good Time Max Max In the Valley of Elah 2008 Camille Pineapple Express Nights in Rodanthe Uncredited Milk 2010 Howl Date Night Shadows and Lies Eat Pray Love 127 Hours Love & Distrust Travis Segment: "Grasshopper"2011 Uncredited cameo Your Highness Prince Fabious Rise of the Planet of the Apes Sal 2012 About Cherry Francis Maladies James Spring Breakers Alien Tyrone The Color of Time (aka Tar) 2013 Interior. Leather Bar. Himself Lovelace Oz the Great and Powerful Oscar Diggs As I Lay Dying This Is the End Himself Palo Alto Mr. B Based on his own book Child of God Jerry Third Person Homefront 2014 Veronica Mars Himself Uncredited cameo Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Good People 2015 Don Quixote:The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha Pasamonte True Story Yosemite Phil I Am Michael Queen of the Desert Every Thing Will Be Fine Wild Horses Ben Briggs The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards Conrad The FoxVoice Memoria Mr. Wyckoff The Night Before Himself2016Goat Mitch Sausage PartyDruggieVoice King Cobra Joseph "Joe" Kerekes Burn Country Lindsay The Caged Pillows David Del Rosario Voice, short filmIn Dubious Battle Mac McLeod Why Him? Laird Mayhew 2017 The Labyrinth NarratorVoiceThe Institute Dr. Cairn Actors Anonymous Jake Lamont The Show Male HostThe Disaster Artist Tommy Wiseau Alien: Covenant – Prologue: Last Supper Jacob Branson Short filmAlien: Covenant Uncredited cameoDon't Come Back from the Moon Roman Smalley The Vault Ed Maas The Mad Whale Edward Fry 2018Future World The Warlord Kin Taylor Balik The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Cowboy Segment: "Near Algodones"Pretenders Maxwell2019Zeroville Ike "Vikar" Jerome Arctic Dogs Lemmy Voice 2024The Price of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure Ezio BurntwoodHey Joe Dean Barry 2025 Squali Robert Price 2027 scope="row" Post-production scope="row" scope="row" Dallas Hardin scope="row" Fidel Castro scope="row" Detective scope="row" Dante scope="row" Donald "Don" Foster scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" Jake scope="row" Meat Daddy scope="row" Jacob scope="row" Filming

As director YearTitleCredited asNotesRef(s)DirectorWriterProducer2005 Fool's Gold 2007 Good Time Max 2009 Short film 2010 Saturday Night Documentary 2011 Also editor, created for Franco's thesis project at NYU. Sal My Own Private River Re-contextualized version of My Own Private IdahoAlso editor and composer 2013 Interior. Leather Bar. Co-directed with Travis MathewsAlso cinematographer As I Lay Dying Child of God 2014 2016In Dubious Battle 2017The Institute Co-directed with Pamela RomanowskyThe Disaster Artist 2018Future World Co-directed with Bruce Thierry-ChungPretenders 2019Zeroville scope="row" scope="row" Post-production

As producer Year Title Notes Ref(s) 2013 Kink Documentary 2014 Executive producer 2015 Yosemite I Am Michael2016Goat King Cobra Why Him?Executive producerL.A. Series2017 The LabyrinthActors AnonymousDon't Come Back from the MoonThe Mad Whale

Television Year TitleRole Notes 1997 Pacific Blue Brian Episode: "Matters of the Heart" 1998 To Serve and Protect Television film 1999 Profiler Stevie Episode: "Three Carat Crisis" 1999–2000 Freaks and Geeks 18 episodes 2000 At Any Cost Television film 2001 James Dean 2007–2008 General Hospital: Night Shift Franco 13 episodes 2008, 2009,2014, 2017 Saturday Night Live Himself / Host 4 episodes 2009–2012 General Hospital Franco 20 episodes 2009 81st Academy Awards Television special 2010 30 Rock Himself Episode: "Klaus and Greta" 2011 83rd Academy Awards Himself / Co–host Television special 2012 FCU: Fact Checkers Unit James Episode: "James Franco Is Preggers" Hollywood Heights Recurring role 2013 2 episodes Comedy Central Roast of James Franco Roastee Television special 2014 Naked and Afraid Himself Television special 2015 Deadbeat Johnny Penis Episode: "The Polaroid Flasher" 2016 Angie Tribeca Sgt. Eddie Pepper 6 episodes 11.22.63 Jake Epping 8 episodes; also producer and directed episode: "The Truth" Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? Play Director Television film; also writer 2017 High School Lover Rick Winters Television film; also executive producer 2017–2019 The Deuce Vincent Martino / Frankie Martino 25 episodes; also executive producer and directed 4 episodes

Video games Year Title Artist Role 2007 Spider-Man 3 Harry Osborn / New Goblin

Music videos Year Title Artist Role 2013 "City of Angels" Thirty Seconds to Mars Himself 2013 "Bound 3" James Franco and Seth Rogan Kanye West 2016 "Only in America" Riff Raff Riff Raff

Web Year TitleRole Notes 2014–2017 Making a Scene with James Franco Himself / Various characters

See also List of awards and nominations received by James Franco

References

Bibliography

External links