There have been a lot of actors who have decided that veganism is right for them—is James Franco one of them?
He’s not a vegan, but James Franco was actually a vegetarian at one point in his life. Pleasing animal rights activists around the world, James Franco has also spoken up against farm animals.
A few years ago, James Franco spoke out for factory farmed animals and he was a vegetarian in his teen years. However, he’s never been vegan.
James Franco’s Vegetarianism
James Franco grew up in Palo Alto, California. After he graduated high school, he moved to Los Angeles to begin studying English at UCLA.
A few years into his degree, he decided to start pursuing his career in acting. His parents were upset by his decision to leave college and they threatened to cut him off financially.
Struggling to make ends meet while taking acting classes, James Franco began searching for a job. He applied at several local restaurants but had no luck scoring an interview. His luck changed when the “golden arches” said yes.
That’s right, one of James Franco’s first jobs was at McDonald’s.
While everyone’s a little unsure of the reasons, James Franco had actually been a vegetarian for a year prior to his job at McDonald’s. Perhaps he did it for the animals? Maybe he was considering the environment?
Whatever the reason, all of this changed when James Franco started working at McDonald’s (apparently he couldn’t say no to all the cheeseburgers).
James Franco has always spoken fondly of his time at McDonald’s—and it even helped him land his first acting gig. Just three months after he began selling Big Macs, James Franco starred in a Pizza Hut commercial that was aired during the Super Bowl.
If you’re curious about James Franco’s time with Ronald McDonald, you can even have a read of the love letter he wrote the company in a Washington Post op-ed. He had the late drive-thru shift and kept things exciting by putting on fake accents to practice with his customers while dishing out special sauce and french fries.
An Advocate for Animal Rights
In 2015, James Franco shared his support with Farm Sanctuary. The organization is US-based and has been protecting farm animals from cruelty since it got started.
In the video clip, James Franco speaks out about how society views animals. He raises the point that we view certain animals that we eat (pigs, cows, chickens, lambs, etc.) different from those we live with (like cats and dogs).
James Franco makes the very important consideration that when you look into the eyes of an animal—any animal—you realize that they are “someone,” not just “something.”
A proud supporter of farm sanctuaries, James Franco loves his cats and he spoke out about extending that love to all types of animals. He’s the proud cat dad of two cats, Sammy and Zelda and spends a lot of time loving on them.
In the words of James Franco himself, “at the end of the day, it’s all about compassion.”
So, What Does James Franco Like to Eat?
While James Franco is a self-proclaimed animal lover, it appears that his love of cows and pigs hasn’t translated into a vegan or vegetarian diet.
He was eating a lot of vegetables in 2017 to prepare for the show ‘The Deuce’ and the film ‘Disaster Artist.’
More specifically, he was preparing for the sex scenes in the show/film. In an interview, James Franco explained that he ate salads for about a year and a half to thin down.
Although he has stood up for animals, specifically animal welfare for farm animals, and was a vegetarian for a period in his teens, James Franco is not a vegan. However, he has been out of the spotlight a little in recent years, so maybe he’s gone plant-based out of the public eye.