James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor.

He was born and raised in Palo Alto, California, and graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1997. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles as an English major, but dropped out after his freshman year to pursue acting. After studying with Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West , Franco got his first break in 1999 when he landed a leading role on the short-lived but highly praised TV series Freaks and Geeks.

Franco's reputation grew after playing James Dean in the TNT network's 2001 made-for-television movie titled simply James Dean; he won both the Golden Globe Award and the Screen Actors' Guild Award for his performance.

For the film of Spider-Man, Franco was originally considered for the lead role of Peter Parker. Eventually passed over in favor of Tobey Maguire, Franco was cast in the role of Harry Osborne, the son of the villainous Green Goblin. The huge successes of Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 have elevated Franco to a new level of recognition with movie audiences around the world.

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