James Franco grew up with his two brothers Tom and David in California and attended Palo Alto High School. After high school, he attended UCLA and majored in English, but left to study acting. Before acting, James worked at the UCLA cafeteria worker and even at McDonald's.

A short time after deciding to pursue an acting career, James landed a starring role on the acclaimed NBC TV series Freaks and Geeks as Daniel Desario. Unfortunately, the show did not catch on with viewers, but James certainly caught the attention of casting directors.

He would land small parts in teen films like Never Been Kissed and Whatever It Takes beforing making a real impression in the TNT Network's biopic of acting great James Dean. Blessed with a striking resemblence to Dean, Franco also managed to recreate the rebel without a cause's fiery persona on screen. He won critical acclaim and really started attracting attention.

Now with the success of Spider-Man, James is in the enviable position of being one of the stand out performers in one of the largest grossing movies of all-time.

--Chris Kivlehan