Hollywood Popular Artists

Sep 5th 2013, 18:47, by Alexandra Govere

It's #ThrowbackThursday, and chances are your Instagram feed is full of awkward, adorable, or awkwardly adorable pics of your friends and followers from back in the day. If your fave thing about Thursdays is celebrity throwbacks, we've got 'em for ya! Today: James Franco.

You know you've made it big when a bunch of famous people come together to make fun of you. I'm talking about James Franco's Comedy Central roast, obvi. James has been a lot of things over the years. An actor, a student, a stoner, and a spring breaker, to name a few. His first paid role was a Pizza Hut commercial, but he didn't receive widespread fame until he starred in 2002's "Spider-Man."

At the peak of his fame, Franco dropped everything to Get Schooled. He's been to NYU, Columbia, Yale, and the Rhode Island School of Design, where his thesis was titled, "F*cking James Franco." Because he freakin' can. James does a lot of things for himself, but he's also all about giving back to the less fortunate. He's a huge supporter of the The Art Of Elysium -- an org that encourages working actors and musicians to hold artistic workshops for children who are battling serious medical conditions. "I was in a spot where I was very unhappy, and I was looking for ways to make life seem worthwhile," said James of the org. "And one of the things that I found at the time was Art Of Elysium. It gave me the opportunities to just give back. Sometimes we don't even know how to give back, and this had everything that I wanted."

James is also a huge supporter of the LGBTQ community, and is specifically concerned about eliminating homophobia in the film world. "There is still this homophobia or prejudice against certain kinds of material in mainstream cinema," he said at the at the SXSW premier of "Spring Breakers." "I don't know what would signal a significant change, but I think some change still needs to happen." James Franco may have earned his roast, but he also deserves a round of applause.

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