Tuesday, June 23, 2026

James Franco Gets His MFA from Columbia University

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Oscar nominated actor James Franco has received his Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. His diploma–it’s real–is right here. This is quite an accomplishment for anyone, but a working actor with a tough schedule–this is near impossible. Franco is currently enrolled in Yale University’s PhD program. This summer he’ll take classes at Warren Wilson College before heading back to Yale. Franco’s educational journey began with him completing UCLA while he was shooting “Spider Man 2.” Mazel tov!

And no,Franco is NOT making an album of experimental music with anyone. That story, like many about Franco, is untrue. And yes he did look at Earth art out west on a recent road trip. But I am advised that this means Michael Heizer’s “Double Negative” in Nevada,  Robert Smithson‘s “Spiral Jetty” in Utah and Walter de Maria’s “Lightning Fields” in New Mexico. The latter work is said to have inspired part of Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian”–a novel Franco had hoped to direct on screen.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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