David John Franco was born in Palo Alto, California, to
Betsy Franco, an author, and Douglas Eugene "Doug" Franco, who ran a Silicon Valley business. He has two older brothers, actors
James Franco and
Tom Franco. His father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent, and his mother is Jewish. Dave made his first television appearance at age 21, in 2006, in an episode of
7th Heaven (1996). A string of high-profile TV work followed, interspersed with roles in some moderately successful movies, including
Charlie St. Cloud (2010) and
Fright Night (2011), and he came to bigger prominence when he played Eric Molson in the hit movie version of the cult TV series
21 Jump Street (2012). He subsequently co-starred in the zombie romance
Warm Bodies (2013) and the thriller
Now You See Me (2013), and provided a voice role for
The Lego Movie (2014). Some of his other films include
Neighbors (2014),
22 Jump Street (2014), and
Unfinished Business (2015).