James Franco was born in Palo Alto , California in 1978. Franco is an an American actor, director & screenwriter. He began acting in the late 1990s, appearing on the series Freaks & Geeks and starring in several teen films. He won critical plaudits and a Golden Globe for playing the title role in the made for television film James Dean (2001) . His role as Harry Osborne -- Peter Parker's best friend and Spider-Man's parturient nemesis -- over the course of all three Spider-Man films (2002, 2004, 2007) shot him to international stardom and leading man status. Most recently he has appeared in Flyboys (2006), An American crime (2007), In the Valley of Elah (2007) and the soon to be released Pineapple Express. Franco has co-written and directed three feature films Fools Gold, The Ape, and Good Time Max.