James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007), Milk (2008), Eat Pray Love (2010), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). He has collaborated with fellow actor Seth Rogen on multiple projects, including Pineapple Express (2008), This Is the End (2013), Sausage Party (2016), and The Disaster Artist (2017), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Franco's performance in 127 Hours (2010) earned a Best Actor nomination at the 83rd Academy Awards.
His first prominent television role was Daniel Desario on the short-lived ensemble comedy-drama Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000), which developed a cult following. He portrayed the title character in the television biographical film James Dean (2001), for which he won a Golden Globe Award, and received nominations for Screen Actors Guild Award and Primetime Emmy Award. Franco had a recurring role on the daytime soap opera General Hospital (2009–2012) and starred in the limited series 11.22.63 (2016). He starred in the David Simon-created HBO drama The Deuce (2017–2019).
In 2014, a seventeen-year-old girl posted several screenshots of alleged messages between her and Franco on Instagram. The messages showed that Franco, then aged 35, tried to meet her in a hotel room even after she told him she was only seventeen.
On January 11, 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that five women had accussed Franco of inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior during the period when Franco was serving as their acting teacher or mentor.
His admission to having sex with students during his time as an acting school teacher led to lawsuits and a $2.2 million sexual misconduct settlement in 2021.
