Let's examine the life of actor Dave Franco, whose original goal was to become a high school creative writing teacher, who was later discovered through his older brother's manager and managed to deliver outstanding performances.
His full name is David John Franco, he was born on June 12, 1985 in Palo Alto, California. He was born the son of Betsy Lou, a Russian-Jewish mother, poet, children's book author, and editor, and a Portuguese father, Douglas Eugene Franco, of Swedish descent, who ran a nonprofit agency. Stating that he is proud to be Jewish, Franco has two older brothers, James and Tom. He grew up in California with his brothers.
Starting out at the University of Southern California, Franco initially considered becoming a high school teacher teaching creative writing. However, when he was in sophomore year, he was directed to a theater class, where he started learning acting skills, on the occasion of his older brother James Franco's manager.
Franco made his acting debut in 2006 in the family drama television series "7th Heaven", which aired on The Wb. The following year, he began to gain attention by appearing in the teen comedy movie "Superbad," directed by Greg Mottola. That same year, he starred as Sam in the romantic comedy-drama film "After Sex," written and directed by Eric Amadio.
The following year, he appeared in the teen drama television series "Privileged", which aired on The CW in May 2008. The series was based on a book called 'How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls'. This was Franco's first major recurring role. The series, which reached 3.1 million viewers on September 9, 2008, reached 1.837 million viewers in its sixth episode, although the ratings fell every week. In the end, it was not renewed for a second season due to low ratings. In the same year, he starred in the biopic "Milk" based on the life of activist and politician Harvey Milk.
He later appeared as Gus in the Fox sitcom "Do Not Disturb" and in some episodes of the ABC comedy-drama television series "Greek." In 2009, he appeared in the ambitious horror film "The Shortcut" directed by Nicholaus Goossen, alongside Andrew Seeley, Shannon Woodward, and Katrina Bowden. Despite receiving mixed and positive reviews, the film failed to find success at the box office.
In August 2009, it was confirmed that Franco would appear as a regular on the ninth season of the NBC/ABC sitcom "Scrubs." Franco played the role of medical student Cole Aaronson, whose family paid a large sum of money at Sacred Heart Hospital to do an internship, and was featured in all episodes of that season. His performance managed to receive praise from the critics. In 2010, he appeared in the comedy-drama film "Greenberg" directed by Noah Baumbach, which was a huge box office failure, despite positive reviews.
Later that year, he starred in the supernatural drama film "Charlie St. Cloud" based on a novel. The film ended up being both a critical and financial failure. In 2011, he appeared in a voice-over role in the superhero animated television series "Young Justice". Later in the year, Franco took the lead role with Michael Shannon in the biographical drama film "The Broken Tower" that he wrote and directed.
In August 2011, Franco appeared with Colin Farrell and Toni Collette in the 3D supernatural horror comedy "Fright Night", a remake of the movie of the same name. Franco portrayed the popular high school student Mark in the movie. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $41 million worldwide.
The following year, he appeared in the police action comedy "21 Jump Street" based on the TV series of the same name as Eric, a high school student and chief drug dealer. The film received positive reviews from critics and was successful at the box office. In 2013, he starred as Perry Kelvin in the zombie romance film "Warm Bodies," written and directed by Jonathan Levine and based on the best-selling novel of the same name. The film received mixed reviews, grossing more than three times its production budget at the box office.
That same year, Franco co-starred with Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Isla Fisher, Mélanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson and Michael Caine in the detective thriller heist movie "Now You See Me" directed by Louis Leterrier. Released on May 31, 2013, the film received mixed reviews. But despite this, it had a successful financial result at the box office. Additionally, it has been nominated for awards and nominations in various categories.
In 2014, he voiced himself in the computer-animated adventure comedy "The Lego Movie" as part of the large cast. Upon its release, it earned a huge commercial return and received critical acclaim. In addition, the film was selected as one of the best films of that year and received many awards and nominations. In the same year, he appeared in the comedy movie "Neighbors" directed by Nicholas Stoller with Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Rose Byrne. Upon its release, the film was met with both a huge commercial gain and successful reviews. He also won the MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo with Zac Efron for his performance.
Later that year, he had a cameo appearance in the satirical cop action comedy "22 Jump Street", the sequel directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. In 2015, he co-starred with Vince Vaughn and Tom Wilkinson in the comedy film "Unfinished Business" directed by Ken Scott. He could not find success both critically and critically.
In 2016, he reprized his role as Pete in the sequel, "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising," which received positive results at both the box office and critically. That same year, he reprized his role as Jack Wilder in its sequel, "Now You See Me 2," which was a huge commercial hit. He then took the lead role with Emma Roberts in the techno-thriller adventure movie "Nerve" based on the novel of the same name. The film was successful at the box office and critically.
The following year, Franco appeared in the critically acclaimed medieval black comedy The Little Hours. He then played actor Greg Sestero as one of the leading roles in the acclaimed biographical comedy-drama film "The Disaster Artist" directed by his older brother James. The film, which has a large cast, was selected as one of the ten best films of 2017 and received many awards and nominations.
In 2018, Franco starred in the addictive drama movie "6 Balloons" for Netflix, in which he co-starred with Abbi Jacobson. Later, he had a small role in the romantic drama movie "If Beale Street Could Talk" directed by Barry Jenkins. The following year, he played the role of actor Montgomery Clift in the comedy-drama film "Zeroville," directed by his older brother James and first filmed in 2014. The film was not successful both critically and financially. That same year, he appeared in the action-thriller "6 Underground" directed by Michael Bay, with Ryan Reynolds, Mélanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Corey Hawkins and Ben Hardy.
In 2020, Franco made his directorial debut with the horror-thriller "The Rental," from a screenplay he co-wrote with Joe Swanberg, starring Alison Brie, Dan Stevens, Jeremy Allen White, and Sheila Vand. Released on July 24, 2020, the film received generally positive reviews. In the same year, he appeared in the comedy series "The Now" directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly.
In 2022, he appeared in the main cast of Franco's Apple TV+ mystery comedy TV series "The Afterparty". That same year, he appeared in the action horror comedy "Day Shift" directed by JJ Perry, alongside Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Meagan Good, Karla Souza, Steve Howey and Scott Adkins. He also co-wrote the romantic comedy "Somebody I Used to Know" directed by Franco.
Personal life
In 2012, Franco began dating actress Alison Brie. The couple got engaged in August 2015 and on March 13, 2017, the couple confirmed that they were married.
Franco was named one of the "Debut Stars to Watch" in 2011. In April 2012, the website Shalom Life placed Franco and his older brother James on their list of "50 most talented, intelligent, funny and amazing Jewish men in the world".