James Franco was born in Palo Alto, California on the 19th of April 1978. His father Douglas Eugene ran a Silicon Valley business and his mother Betsy Lou is a writer and editor. His family could be described as academic, liberal and secular. Both of his parents also graduated from Stanford University, so expectations were very high for James.
James actually had a talent for math. In the past, he was an intern at Lockheed Martin and he actually had the idea of becoming a marine zoologist. In the end, what he really wanted was to become an actor. Against his parent’s wishes, he dropped out from UCLA after his first year to pursue his dream. After this, he took acting classes with the acclaimed Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West.
Since his parents were not happy with his decision, he had to support himself. He had to take a late-night job at McDonald’s to support himself and he even admitted that McDonald’s was there for him when no one else was. While working there, he made the most of his time by practicing accents on customers.