Why We Never Hear About James And Dave Franco's Brother Tom

By now, we're all aware of two incredibly talented Franco brothers: James and Dave. The former has done everything from acting in television shows and feature films to directing his own films, while the younger Franco has showcased his acting skills in movies like 21 Jump Street (2012) and Nerve (2016). Brace yourself: there is a third Franco brother! Read on to find out just how the middle Franco brother evaded us for so long.

Ever hear of middle child syndrome? As explained by Today, middle children are more likely to report feeling ignored than older or younger siblings. Well, maybe celebrity children aren't exempt. Tom Franco is younger than James and older than Dave — and compared to them, all but ignored by the media. It's not all bad, though. As Business Insider reports, middle children are often more open-minded, successful in relationships, and better negotiators than their surrounding siblings.

It's really no Hollywood secret that James Franco is a little... odd. Just ask his brother Dave, who told Conan O'Brien in 2014 that James' infamous naked selfie is a "refined act" compared to the other strange things he does. But if you ask the Franco matriarch Betsy (who'd know better than anyone, right!?), James isn't even the most "out there" brother in the family. Nope, that title belongs to Tom.

She described him as "the freest spirit of the bunch" to Diablo Magazine, explaining that he'd make "whimsical creatures out of Plasticine" and gather "objects off the street" for his sculptures. Still less weird than painting suspect murals and naked photos of your best friends if you ask us, but to each their own.

We get it: it's gotta be hard to court the public eye when you're managing an art gallery with multiple locations. In 2004, Tom launched the Firehouse Art Collective, a nonprofit art space where artists can show off their work. The galleries are meant to "redefine how [people] think about artists," said Tom in an interview with Diablo Magazine. He aims to prove that artists aren't" these drugged out, radical, dangerous people: It could be your neighbor, or it could be you." Managing and promoting the Collective is no small feat, according to John Toki, Berkeley sculptor and Tom's former teacher. "No one knows how he does it," Toki told Diablo. "He's like four men in one."

Ask pretty much any member of the Franco family and they'll give Tom a glowing review. Not just his mom and his uncle — even his younger brother was quick to reveal the truth. "For people who have met all three of us, Tom Franco is the unanimous favorite Franco," Dave told Vanity Fair. "He's the best one—the best-looking, the sweetest, the nicest, greatest guy to be around. We keep him to ourselves. He's our little secret."

The whole Franco clan is incredibly artistic. "In my family, you were never cool, you never had anything good to say, unless you were talking about art," Tom told Diablo Magazine. While James and Dave Franco gravitated toward theater and eventually Hollywood, Tom's passion is visual art. According to his mom Betsy, visual arts have always been his end goal. "He really knew what he wanted to do from the get-go," she told Diablo, "and he stuck to that very stubbornly." He uses his Instagram page to showcase his work, which includes sculptures, paintings, and carvings. He also illustrated his mom's 2009 novel Metamorphosis: Junior Year.

While James and Dave's IMDB profiles go on for miles, Tom's filmography includes only 6 acting credits between 1990 and 2017 — two of which are uncredited. That doesn't mean he's not talented, though. "Everyone knows about James," Michael Verne, Tom Franco's uncle and owner of the Verne Collection, told Huffington Post, "but Tom just may be the most talented and most magical of the Franco Brothers."