James Franco was born in 1974 in Palo Alto, California. His father, George, worked for IBM while his mother, Alma (née Flores), was a high school teacher. He has two younger sisters. He is of Mexican descent on his father's side and of Irish descent on his mother's side
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He was raised Roman Catholic and attended Palo Alto High School for three years. Franco studied at the University of California, Santa Cruz where he met roommate and future Winona Ryder. They were both members of the drama club and did their first acting work together in an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
Shortly after graduating from high school, Franco joined a Palo Alto theater group, The Kilgores, where he was discovered by actress Kimberly Quinn who invited him to read with her at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. This led to a series of small roles in various television shows.