James Franco Wiki: Net Worth, Movie, The Disaster Artist & Facts To Know

James Franco was born on April 19th, 1978 in Palo Alto, California to Betsy and Douglas Eugene Franco. Betsy Lou, his mother, is a writer and occasional actress. Douglas or "Doug" Franco, his father, ran a Silicon Valley business and passed in 2011. Franco grew up in California with his 2 brothers, Tom and Dave Franco, who are also actors. Franco has described his family upbringing as "academic, liberal, and largely secular." Franco was a math whiz at a young age and interned at Lockheed Martin.

James Franco also got into trouble in his high school years, Franco was arrested for underage drinking, graffiti, and for being a part of a group that stole designer fragrances from department stores and then sold them to his classmates. These arrests actually led to Franco briefly becoming a ward of the state. Franco recalled of his troubles with the law and is quoted as saying, "It was teen angst. I was uncomfortable in my own skin. I was shy. I changed my ways just in time to get good grades." Franco was actually interested in the idea of becoming a marine zoologist, but Franco had always secretly wanted to become an actor but feared being rejected. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles as an English major, but he dropped out after his first year, against his parents' wishes. Franco chose to take acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West instead. Around this time in his life, he got a job at McDonald's to support himself when his parents refused to do so. Franco would later write about the experience he remembered nostalgically in a 2015 Washington Post editorial titled "McDonald's was there for me when no one else was." Like Johnny Depp with telemarketing, Franco would practice different accents with customers while working late-night shifts at the fast food restaurant.

Franco began auditioning in Los Angeles after 15 months of training and his first big break came in 1999, after he was cast in a leading role on the NBC television series Freaks and Geeks. Freaks and Geeks was developed, written and directed by Judd Apatow and one of his main co-stars was Seth Rogen, who he has made 9 films with up to this point, including Pineapple Express and The Disaster Artist. Franco received a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal as James Dean in the film with the same name in 2001. In 2002, Franco achieved worldwide fame and recognition playing Harry Osbourne in the superhero film Spider-Man. Spider-Man grossed $114 million in its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $822 million worldwide. The massive success of Spider-Man would spawn 2 sequels, in 2004 and 2007.

In 2008, Franco teamed up with Seth Rogen in Pineapple Express, a massive hit for a stoner comedy. Pineapple Express was based on Brad Pitt's character in "True Romance," according to Judd Apatow. Franco's performance in the film earned him a second Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. In the same year, Franco starred with Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch, in Gus Van Sant's "Milk." Franco had a powerful performance in the film, playing Harvey Milk's love interest; Franco won the Independent Spirit Award in the category for Best Supporting Actor. In true James Franco fashion, he joined the cast of the daytime soap opera General Hospital on a recurring basis in 2009. Franco has called his General Hospital role performance art. In 2010, James Franco signed on to star in 127 Hours, directed by Danny Boyle, Franco portrayed real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston. 127 Hours was a critically acclaimed film and his performance was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG award, as well as winning Franco an Independent Spirit Award. James Franco has also directed many films and has two big movies due out in 2018, Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad and Future World. Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad is an animated film and Future World is an apocalyptic drama that continues to expand, as Lucy Liu, Method Man, Suki Waterhouse and Snoop Dogg have joined the movie cast recently. Franco appears in and is co-directing the movie alongside Bruce Cheung.

James Franco's latest film is The Disaster Artist, based on the cult hit, "The Room." In The Disaster Artist, Franco plays Tommy Wiseau, the creator, writer and star of "The Room," which is considered to be one of worst films ever made. The Disaster Artist has received near universal praise and has Franco set up nicely for the Awards season over the next couple of months. Franco has a net worth of $20 million dollars and with 2018 shaping up to be one of his biggest years, you can say that he will add to his net worth very easily. Franco is extremely interesting, he is quite eccentric and always has something going on, and we thank him for that.