Thomas Andrew Franco (born April 14, 1980) is an American actor,[1] artist, and the founder of the Firehouse Art Collective in Berkeley, California.[2] He is the brother of actors James Franco and Dave Franco.[3]
Franco was born in Palo Alto, California. His mother, Betsy Lou (née Verne), is a writer and occasional actress.[citation needed] His father, Douglas Eugene Franco (died 2011), ran a Silicon Valley business,[4][5] and was a "philanthropic entrepreneur".[6] Franco's father was of Portuguese (Madeiran) and Swedish descent.[7] Franco's mother is from a family of Russian Jewish ancestry; her parents had changed the surname from "Verovitz" to "Verne."[8] Tom is the middle child of three brothers; the older is actor, director, writer, and artist James Franco and the younger is actor and director Dave Franco. They were raised in Palo Alto.[6]
Franco started acting professionally with his role as Frog Boy in the comedy horror film Basket Case 2 (1990). He subsequently appeared in A Peace of History (2005) and The Devil Wears a Toupee (2007).[10] He had a small role in The Disaster Artist (2017), as a crew member on The Room, in which his brothers played the lead roles (James as Tommy Wiseau and Dave as Greg Sestero).
Franco is the founder and co-director of Berkeley's Firehouse Art Collective.[6] He shared directorship with his wife Julia Lazar Franco, who died in 2014.[11]
Personal life
Franco's first wife, Julia Lazar, worked closely with him. Her death was a result of liver failure (brought on by hepatitis C and liver cancer)[12] and kidney trouble. The two were married in a hospital solarium about a month before her death.[13] In 2021, Franco married Iris Torres, a film producer.
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