Dave Franco

Dave Franco

Dave in 2013
Born David John Franco[1]
June 12, 1985[2]
Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Education University of Southern California
Occupation Actor, comedian
Years active 2006–present
Relatives James Franco (brother)
Tom Franco (brother)

David John "Dave" Franco (born June 12, 1985) is an American television and film actor who is best known for his roles in the films 21 Jump Street, Charlie St. Cloud, Fright Night, Now You See Me, Warm Bodies, Neighbors and on the ninth season of the series Scrubs. He is the younger brother of actor James Franco.[3]

Early life

Franco was born in Palo Alto, California, the son of Betsy Lou (née Verne), a poet, author, and editor, and Douglas Eugene "Doug" Franco (1948–2011),[4][5] who met as students at Stanford University.[6] Franco's father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent.[7] Franco's mother is Jewish (from a family of Russian Jewish ancestry, with her parents having changed the surname from "Verovitz" to "Verne"); Dave has stated that he is "proud" to be Jewish.[8][9] Franco's paternal grandmother, Marjorie (Peterson) Franco, is a published author of young adult books.[10][11] Franco's maternal grandmother, Mitzie (Levine) Verne, owns the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, and was an active member in the National Council of Jewish Women.[12][13][14] Franco grew up in California with his two older brothers, Tom and James.[15]

Career

In 2006, Franco made his acting debut on The CW drama television series 7th Heaven. Since then he appeared in television shows such as Do Not Disturb and Young Justice. Franco has also had noticeable roles in films such as Superbad, Charlie St. Cloud, 21 Jump Street, Warm Bodies, The Shortcut and Now You See Me. In May 2008, he was cast in The CW teen drama television series Privileged. The series centered on a live-in tutor for two spoiled heiresses in Palm Beach. Franco was cast in an initial major recurring role. The series premiered on September 9, 2008 to 3.1 million viewers. Ratings continued to slip each week with the series sixth episode reaching 1.837 million viewers. The CW did not renew the series for a second season due to low ratings.

Franco (far right) with Christopher Mintz Plasse (far left) in September 2013

In August 2009, Variety announced Franco was cast in a regular role for the ninth season of the ABC sitcom series Scrubs. Franco portrayed the role of Cole Aaronson, a medical student, whose family paid a large sum of money to Sacred Heart Hospital to receive an internship. Franco went on to appear in all thirteen episodes of the ninth season and received praise from critics for his performance; however, the ninth season was the final season of the series.[16]

MTV Networks' NextMovie.com named him one of the Breakout Stars to Watch for in 2011.[17] In August 2011, Franco starred in the 3D horror comedy film Fright Night alongside Colin Farrell and Toni Collette. The film is a remake of the 1985 film of the same name and follows a teenage boy who finds out his neighbor is a vampire. Franco played the role of popular high school student Mark. The film received positive reviews from critics and went on to make over $41 million worldwide.

In April 2012, Shalom Life ranked him and his brother James at number 2 on its list of "the 50 most talented, intelligent, funny, and gorgeous Jewish men in the world".[18] In March 2012, Franco starred in the Columbia Pictures action comedy film, 21 Jump Street, as Eric, a high school student and the lead drug dealer. The film was based on the 1987 television series of the same name.

In 2013, he co-starred in the zombie romance film Warm Bodies, as Perry Kelvin. The film, an adaptation of the best-selling novel Warm Bodies, followed a romance between a zombie and a human during a zombie apocalypse.[19] Also in the same year, Franco appeared alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Mélanie Laurent, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman and Isla Fisher in the ensemble crime thriller film Now You See Me. To promote the film, he was interviewed on the Bob Rivers Show, out of Seattle. Rivers persuaded Franco to show the card-throwing abilities he had learned and Franco expertly sliced half a banana into a further half with his hotel card.[20]

Franco's 2014 roles included the Seth Rogen comedy Neighbors and a cameo appearance in 22 Jump Street.[21][22] In 2015, he co-starred with Vince Vaughn and Tom Wilkinson in the comedy Unfinished Business.

Upcoming roles include playing Greg Sestero in the film The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside the Room and reprising his role of Jack Wilder in the film Now You See Me: The Second Act.[23][24]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2006 Frat Bros. A.J. Short
2007 Superbad Greg the Soccer Player
2007 After Sex Sam
2008 Milk Telephone Tree #5
2009 Shortcut, TheThe Shortcut Mark
2009 A Fuchsia Elephant Michael Short; Also producer
2010 Greenberg Rich
2010 Charlie St. Cloud Sully
2011 Broken Tower, TheThe Broken Tower Young Hart Crane
2011 Fright Night Mark
2012 Would You Dave Short; Also writer
2012 21 Jump Street Eric Molson Nominated—MTV Movie Awards for Best Cast (shared with 21 Jump Street cast)
2013 Warm Bodies Perry Kelvin Young Hollywood Award for Fan Favorite
Nominated—NewNowNext Award for Next Mega Star
2013 Now You See Me Jack Wilder Young Hollywood Award for Fan Favorite
2014 The Lego Movie Wally (voice)
2014 Neighbors Pete Regazolli Nominated—Young Hollywood Award for Best Cast Chemistry - Film (shared with Neighbors cast)
Nominated—Young Hollywood Award for Best Threesome (shared with Zac Efron & Christopher Mintz-Plasse)
2014 22 Jump Street Eric Molson Cameo
2015 Unfinished Business Mike Pancake[25]
2015 Zeroville TBA
2016 Now You See Me: The Second Act Jack Wilder Filming
2016 Nerve TBA Filming[26]

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2006 7th Heaven Benjamin Bainsworth Episode: "Highway to Cell"
2008 Do Not Disturb Gus 5 episodes
2008 Greek Gonzo 6 episodes
2008–2009 Privileged Zachary 5 episodes
2009–2010 Scrubs Cole Aaronson 13 episodes
2011–2012 Young Justice Edward Nigma/Riddler (voice) 2 episodes
2015 Other Space Chad Simpson 2 episodes

Web

Year Title Role Notes
2011 You're So Hot Himself Funny or Die short; Also writer
2011 Go F*ck Yourself Himself Funny Or Die short; Also writer
2012 You're So Hot: Part Deux Himself Funny or Die short; Also writer
2013 Dream Girl Himself Funny or Die short; Also writer, director
2013 Real Life H-O-R-S-E! Himself Funny or Die short; Also writer
2013 Chris & Daves Epic Adventure Himself Funny or Die series
2014 Hazing Himself Funny or Die short
2014 You're So Hot: Vol. 3 Beatrix Kiddo Funny or Die short

References

  1. ↑ "Person Details for David John Franco, "California Birth Index, 1905-1995" — FamilySearch.org". Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "Today in history". ABC News. Associated Press. June 12, 2014.
  3. ↑ THR staff (2/11/2011). "Paradigm Signs James Franco’s Brother Dave Franco from WME (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ↑ "James Franco's Father Dies at 63". E! Online. 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  5. ↑ "James Franco Biography". Yahoo!. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
  6. ↑ Anderson, Sam. "The James Franco Project" New York, July 25, 2010.
  7. ↑ "LatinoReview.com". Franco Talks Annapolis!. Archived from the original on June 14, 2006. Retrieved May 9, 2006.
  8. ↑ "Dave Franco and Conan O’Brien Discuss Shalom Life’s JILF List [VIDEO". Shalom Life. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  9. ↑ Rhone, Paysha (2009-02-14). "Spidey foe meets his match in Harvard's Hasty Pudding crew". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  10. ↑ Marquis Who's Who, Inc (1991). Who's who of emerging leaders in America. Marquis Who's Who. ISBN 0-8379-7202-7.
  11. ↑ Commire, Anne (1985). Something about the Author, Volume 38. Gale Research. p. 77. ISBN 0-8103-0071-0.
  12. ↑ Spevack, Violet (January 31, 2002). "Cavalcade". Cleveland Jewish News. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  13. ↑ Spevack, Violet (October 23, 2009). "Cavalcade 10/23". Cleveland Jewish News. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Case Western Reserve University". Admission Case. Archived from the original on October 24, 2007. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
  15. ↑ Van Sant, Gus. "Jamesfranco". Interview. p. 1. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
  16. ↑ Korbi Ghosh (August 14, 2009). "'Scrubs' casts Dave Franco as the first of its new series regulars". Zap2It.com.
  17. ↑ Evry, Max (January 5, 2011). "25 Breakout Stars to Watch for in 2011". Next Movie. Retrieved April 11, 2011.
  18. ↑ Ashley Baylen (April 20, 2012). "Top 50 Hottest Jewish Men (10–1)". Shalom Life. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
  19. ↑ Becky Kirsch (18 January 2013). "Dave Franco Talks Warm Bodies and Why He'd Make a Goofy Zombie" (VIDEO UPLOAD). PopSugar. POPSUGAR Inc. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  20. ↑ Franco, Dave (June 2013). "Dave Franco". The Bob Rivers Show. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  21. ↑ Kevin P. Sullivan (16 December 2013). "'22 Jump Street' NSFW Trailer: Watch Now". MTV. Viacom International Inc. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  22. ↑ Movieed (4 September 2013). "Neighbors - Official Red Band Trailer #1 HD (2014) - Zac Efron, Seth Rogen, Dave Franco, Rose Byrne" (VIDEO UPLOAD). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  23. ↑ "MIDNIGHT SUN, the NOW YOU SEE ME Sequel, and More At TIFF 2013". Collider. December 18, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Dave Franco Joining James Franco in Film Based on 'The Room'". Variety. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  25. ↑ "Watch the Red-Band Trailer for Vince Vaughn’s New Comedy ‘Unfinished Business’". 26 November 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  26. ↑ Justin Kroll. "Dave Franco and Emma Roberts to Star in YA Thriller ‘Nerve’". Variety. Retrieved 3 April 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dave Franco.