Tom Franco

Thomas Andrew "Tom" Franco (born April 14, 1980) is an American actor, artist and the founder of the Firehouse Art Collective in Berkeley, California. Tom Franco is the brother of actors James Franco and Dave Franco.

Early life and education
Tom Franco's mother, Betsy Lou (née Verne), is a writer and occasional actress, and his father, Douglas Eugene "Doug" Franco (d. 2011), ran a Silicon Valley business and was a "philanthropic entrepreneur". Franco's father was of Portuguese (Madeiran) and Swedish descent. Tom's mother is Jewish (from a family of Russian Jewish ancestry, with her parents having changed the surname from "Verovitz" to "Verne"). Tom is the middle child of three. His older brother is actor, director, writer, and artist James Franco and his younger brother is actor Dave Franco. They were raised in Palo Alto, California.

Tom Franco graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz majoring in fine art, then attended California College of the Arts in Oakland, California, majoring in ceramics.

Career
Tom Franco started acting professionally 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).

Franco is the founder and co-director of Berkeley’s Firehouse Art Collective. He shared directorship with his wife Julia Lazar Franco who died in 2014.

Personal life
Franco's wife, Julia Lazar Franco (1957–2014) worked closely with Tom. Her death was a result of liver failure (brought on by hepatitis C and liver cancer) and kidney trouble. The two were married in a hospital solarium about a month before her death.