At the Franco dinner table, Dave may sound like the underachiever when compared to older brother James, who recently hosted the Oscars, is slated to star in and direct several high-profile projects, and is working on, like, a zillion different graduate degrees at once.
But can we talk for a second about how freaking cute Dave is? And his acting career is starting to take off—he has just been cast in “21 Jump Street,” the movie reboot of Johnny Depp’s star-making show. He’ll be acting alongside Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, playing a super cool high schooler who just happens to be a big time drug dealer.
1. In high school, Dave was a bit of a book worm. His mom told Oprah Winfrey he ” was writing a lot of poetry in high school and even getting it published.” And he says his inspiration is “Roald Dahl, whose books got me reading and influenced my dark sense of humor.”
2. It took him until college to get into acting. “I audited this class and the people onstage were screaming and crying and hitting each other. I was like, “F**k this!” It was so intense. But I ended up sticking it out, and I really liked it.”
3. While his brother can’t stop enrolling in school, Dave dropped out of USC to try his hand in Hollywood. The 25-year-old’s first role was a bit appearance on “7th Heaven” and he’s also played small parts in “Milk” and “Superbad.” His biggest part to date was playing intern Cole Aaronson on the final season of “Scrubs.”
4. Dave is close with his brother. “I don’t take for granted him helping me get my foot in the door,” he says. “From there on out, people aren’t going to hire me because I’m James Franco’s little brother. I’m trying to distance myself.” He’s even starred in a few Funny or Die clips with his bro. In one called “Acting With James Franco,” Dave and James recreate a scene from “Rebel Without A Cause.”
