where did james franco study acting?
University of California, Los Angeles University of Houston Brooklyn College Columbia University School of the Arts Rhode Island School of Design Warren Wilson College Yale University Tisch School of the Arts Palo Alto High School
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 Although the idea of becoming a marine zoologist interested him , Franco had always secretly wanted to become an actor but feared being rejected . He enrolled at the University of California , Los Angeles ( UCLA ) as an English major , but dropped out after his first year against his parents ' wishes to pursue a career as an actor , since he would have had to wait two years to audition for their acting program . Franco instead chose to take acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West . Around this time , Franco took up a late @-@ night job at McDonald 's to support himself since his parents refused to do so . He was a vegetarian until working there . While working at the establishment , he would practice accents on customers , an experience he remembered nostalgically in a 2015 Washington Post editorial ( " McDonald ’ s was there for me when no one else was " ) . 

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 While he was working as a software engineer in Silicon Valley , California , he pursued filmmaking and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University . 

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 Franco , dissatisfied with his career 's direction , reenrolled at UCLA in autumn 2006 as an English major with a creative writing concentration . He received permission to take as many as 62 course credits per quarter compared to the normal limit of 19 , while still continuing to act ; receiving many of his credits from independent study for his involvement on the set of Spider @-@ Man 3 . He received his undergraduate degree in June 2008 with a GPA of 3 @.@ 5 / 4 @.@ 0 . For his degree , Franco prepared his departmental honors thesis as a novel under the supervision of Mona Simpson . While at the university , the actor studied French , the Holocaust , philosophy of science , and American literature among other things . To continue acting , he would study on film sets . 

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 Franco 's family upbringing was " academic , liberal , and largely secular " . He grew up in California with his two brothers , Tom and Dave ( " Davy " , also an actor ) . A " math whiz " , Franco interned at Lockheed Martin . He was often encouraged by his father to get good grades and did well on his SATs . He graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996 , where he acted in plays . This led to him attending CSSSA in 1998 for theatre . In his high school years , Franco was arrested for underage drinking , graffiti , and for being a part of a group that stole designer fragrances from department stores and sold them to classmates . These arrests led to his briefly becoming a ward of the state . Facing the possibility of juvenile hall , Franco was given a second chance by the judge . " It was teen angst . I was uncomfortable in my own skin . I was shy . I changed my ways just in time to get good grades , " he recalled of his troubles with the law . 

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 He decided to pursue a career in film . After attending two other film schools , he graduated from Full Sail University in another Central Florida town , Winter Park , as the class valedictorian . He moved to Southern California and began working as a story editor , primarily doing uncredited rewrites . 
