James Franco The Mystery Man On General Hospital

James Franco's Early work

After fifteen months of training, James Franco began auditioning in Los Angeles, California, and got his first break in 1999, after Franco was cast in a leading role on the short-lived but well-reviewed television series Freaks and Geeks. Franco's first major film was the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes (2000), where he co-starred with his then-girlfriend, Marla Sokoloff. He was subsequently cast as the title role in director Mark Rydell's 2001 TV biopic James Dean. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Franco could have walked through the role and done a passable Dean, but instead gets under the skin of this insecure, rootless young man." He was distinguished with a Golden Globe Award, as well as being nominated for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

James Franco in Spider-Man

In the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man, the most successful film of his career to date, Franco played Harry Osborn, the son of the villainous Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and best friend of the title character (Tobey Maguire). Originally, Franco was considered for the lead role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the film, though the lead went to Tobey Maguire. Todd McCarthy of Variety noted that there are "good moments" between Maguire and Franco in the film. Spider-Man was a commercial and critical success. The movie grossed $114 million during its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $822 million worldwide.

James Franco Interesting Facts:

In 2008, Franco received his undergraduate degree in English from UCLA. For his degree, Franco prepared his departmental honors thesis under the supervision of novelist Mona Simpson. Subsequently, Franco moved to New York to attend graduate school at Columbia University's MFA Writing Program and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he studied filmmaking.