James Franco, the actor, has an interesting past. His parents met at Stanford University. His mom became and actress and writer and his father ran a Silicon Valley business. His paternal grandmother is a published author of young adults books and his maternal grandmother owns a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, Ohio.
In high school, Franco got in trouble with the law for theft, vandalism, and graffiti. He got his act together and went to UCLA majoring in English. He quickly dropped out, because he really wanted to be an actor.
So, he got a job at McDonalds while he pursued his acting career to support himself. Until working there, he had been a vegetarian. He practiced his accents on customers to his perfection. His first paid gig was a Pizza Hut commercial and soon after he was cast in Judd Apatow's TV show Freaks and Geeks. From there he continued to climb the acting ladder.