So, he can act. He can write. He can direct. And he can even teach. But can James Franco also sing?
To say whether or not James Franco can would ultimately be up for each person to decide. While the actor has certainly sung before (normally when prompted), he hasn’t tried to add ‘singer’ to his list of talents.
It seems like James Franco can do it all. When it comes to the arts, he’s got practically every aspect covered. When it comes to singing, however, it might be better to leave that up to his younger brother, Dave Franco.
A True Performer
While we can’t say that acting is in James’s blood, the arts certainly are. Born in Palo Alto, California in 1978, James Franco became the first of three boys to be born to Betsy Levine and Doug Franco.
The family was artsy and eccentric. Franco’s mother was a writer and his father owned a SIlicon Valley company. Perhaps following in his mother’s footsteps, Franco headed off to University of California, Los Angeles to pursue a degree in English.
Realizing that his true passion was for acting, James Franco dropped out of college after just his freshman year to start taking acting classes instead. It took just a few years for him to land his first role and he was only 19 years old when he started out as Brian on the hit 1997 show Pacific Blue.
I’m sure we’ve all seen James Franco in a movie before and there’s no question that he’s had an undoubtedly successful acting career. He really got his start on the hit television series Freaks and Geeks (which also starred Jason Segal and Seth Rogan)
James Franco has also been in a huge variety of films. From his 1999 film debut in Never Been Kissed to his Golden Globe Award winning portrayal in James Dean. A few of his other popular movies include the Spiderman film franchise, Tristan and Isolde, Pineapple Express, and Date Night.
The bone crunching (literally) film 127 Hours earned James Franco an Oscar Nomination and the film The Interview earned him a great deal of controversy.
While he’s been in a variety of roles over the span of his 20-plus year career, few (if any) of them have involved singing. While he’s sung a few lines here and there on interviews and at other events, we don’t really have enough evidence to say if he’s a good singer or not.
The Singing Franco
When it comes to singing, one of the other Franco brothers (Dave) is the one who’s more involved. This isn’t exactly because of his singing per se but because of how he’s encouraging other people to sing.
Like his brother, Dave Franco has been captured singing (and sometimes even rapping) a few notes. He serenaded customers in an Apple store, has been filmed while singing karaoke, and even performed on the Late Late Show with James Cordon.
But his real singing presence was in his 2016 effort to promote his newest film of the time, Nerve. Starting and spreading the hashtag #FindYourNerve, Dave Franco started it off for fans and followers by performing Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” (the Apple store performance we just mentioned).
Passing the challenge on, Dave Franco wanted some of his friends and family to share the experience of embarrassing themselves by singing in public. That’s right, James Franco was one of the first people Dave invited to #FindYourNerve.
Shortly after the beckon, James Franco performed Justin Bieber’s song “Sorry.” He did so in a convenience store with some backup support from two friends (the video is nowhere to be found, unfortunately).
So, does James Franco sing? Yes. Can James Franco sing? You’ll have to take a look at some of these clips and decide for yourself.