James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, author, and painter. He began acting during the late 1990s, appearing on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and starring in several teen films. Actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway will be co-hosting the ceremony for their first time.
In 2001 he played the title role in Mark Rydell's television biographical film James Dean, which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film. He played a prominent role in the 2008 biographical film Milk. In 2010, he played the lead role in Howl as Allen Ginsberg, and 127 Hours, a film about Aron Ralston, an American mountaineer who cut off his own arm to free himself after he was trapped beneath a boulder.
Franco was born in Palo Alto, California. Franco reportedly has "an unusually high metabolism for productivity a superhuman ability to focus".In the December 27, 2010 issue of Time Magazine, Franco was named by Joel Stein as "The Coolest Person of the Year."
