(Source: In-game screenshot)
Franklin Clinton is one of the three playable characters in GTA V alongside Michael De Santa and Trevor Philips. Franklin Clinton is considered the most likable character of the three by a majority of GTA 5 players.
Franklin was born and brought up in Los Santos. At a very young age he became a gangbanger and joined The Families gang with whom he did small criminal jobs to make a living along with his best friend Lamar Davis.
He met Michael when he was put up on a job by Simeon Yetarian to repossess the car Michael’s son bought from Simeon. He helped Michael chase down his wife’s tennis instructor which led to Franklin and Michael’s partnership. Michael was more of a mentor to him. Franklin also befriends Trevor and the two of them are often paired up for missions together. Even though Franklin isn’t very close to Trevor, he is like a mentor to Franklin. Franklin, being the calm and loyal person he is, also rescues Michael from the Triads when Trevor is mad at Michael and won’t care about helping him.
| Name | Franklin Clinton |
| Aliases | Frank, Frankie, F, FC, Mr. C, F-Dog, F-Dizzle, CEO, Boss, Mr. Professional, Mr. Disloyalty, Mr. Gold Card, Mr. Conservative, Mr. Vinewood, Boy Wonder, Dye Pack, Captain Conservative, Slick, Baby F |
| Voice Actor | Shawn Fonteno |
| DOB (Age) | 1988 |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 6’1 (1.85m) |
| Status | Alive |
| Nationality | American |
| Family | Tanisha Clinton (Wife), Unnamed children, Denise Clinton (Maternal aunt), Tavell Clinton (Cousin), Unnamed mother, Unnamed father, Unnamed aunt, Unnamed grandfather, Unnamed grandmother, Chop (Pet; previously owned by Lamar) |
| Home | Forum Drive, Strawberry (Formerly) 3671 Whispymound Drive, Vinewood Hills |
| Businesses | Downtown Cab Co. (Optional), Smoke on the Water (Optional), Los Santos Customs (Blaine County, optional), LSPD Auto Impound (Optional), Los Santos Golf Club (Optional), Car Scrapyard (Optional), Tequi-la-la (Optional), Pitchers (Optional), The Hen House (Optional), Hookies (Optional), Sonar Collections Dock (Optional) |
| Affiliations | The Families, Lamar Davis, Elisa Macallen (Ex-girlfriend/optional), Ursula (Ex-girlfriend/optional), Simeon Yetarian (Formerly), Stretch (Formerly), Michael De Santa, Jimmy De Santa, Trevor Philips, Lester Crest, Tonya Wiggins, Casey's Highway Clearance, Children of the Mountain (Optional), JB Bradshaw, Hao, Dom Beasley This character is deceased, Beverly Felton (Formerly), Devin Weston (Formerly), Molly Schultz (Formerly), Omega Mary-Ann, Quinn Barry |
| Weapons | Player’s choice |
| Phone/Email ID | 3285550156/[email protected] |
| Appearance(s) | GTA V, GTA V Online |
Franklin was born in South Los Santos in 1988. His father left before he was born and his mother, a cocaine addict, passed away when he was very young. Franklin then lived with his grandparents in South Los Santos. Here, he met Tonya Wiggins and JB Bradshaw. He started the life of a street hustler and often sold cigarettes with Bradshaw until one day his grandfather caught him. After his grandparents passed away, Franklin then moved into a house with his aunt Denise at Forum Drive. The house was left to them in his grandmother’s will.
Franklin met Lamar Davis and Tanisha Jackson when he used to attend Davis High School. However, he was expelled from school after assaulting a teacher. He then got onto the streets and became a gangbanger. He started committing petty crimes, carjackings and small-time robberies with Lamar, which eventually got him into prison in 2008. After being released he started working for Simeon Yetarian along with Lamar at a car dealership. His main job was to repossess cars sold to likely defaulters.
With the opening credits still showing, Franklin and Lamar cross paths with Michael De Santa while they are on a repossession job where they are directed to the right place by Michael. They are given another job to recover a Bagger in the Vagos-controlled area of Vespucci. A shootout takes place when they come across Vagos members. The owner of the bike gets killed in the shootout so Lamar just keeps the bike for himself.
Simeon blames Franklin for the theft of the bike and gives him another job, this time to repossess a BeeJay XL from Michael’s son Jimmy whom they came across earlier in the showroom. Franklin makes his way into the De Santa residence and manages to steal the car, only to find Michael hidden in the backseat. Michael pulls out a gun and points it at Franklin’s head ordering him to drive to wherever he came from. On reaching Simeon’s showroom, Michael instructs Franklin to drive through the front of the showroom. Franklin Drives through the front glass of the showroom and Michael pays him for the same.
Franklin loses his job at the showroom and arrives at the De Santa residence asking Michael if he had a job for him. At that very moment Michael gets a call from his son who gets in trouble after trying to sell Michael’s yacht. Franklin helps Michael rescue his son and Michael is impressed.
On returning home, Michael finds his wife cheating on him with her tennis coach and the duo chase him down in a pickup truck. They arrive at a house in Vinewood Hills and with the help of the truck bring down the entire deck. After returning home, Michael is visited by Martin Madrazo who brings a baseball bat with him. He attacks Michael telling him that it was his lover’s house and demands $2,500,000 from Michael as cost of repairs for the damage.
Lamar calls in Franklin because he sees an opportunity to kidnap Ballas gang member D. They take off in his van driving to Vinewood Boulevard and find D in an alley from where he escapes on a bike. Franklin and Lamar follow him, ultimately getting a hold of him with the help of Lamar’s dog Chop. Franklin ends up revealing their location to the police while talking on his mobile phone which forces them to let him go. Meanwhile, Stretch returns from prison and goes to a drug deal which was actually an ambush. Stretch ends up killing D, after which Franklin, Lamar and Stretch successfully make it out of there.
After a while, Michael contacts Franklin to plan a heist in order to repay Martin Madrazo. The heist turns out to be a success and they pay back Madrazo, splitting the remaining money between them.
Michael introduces Franklin to Trevor Philips and Lester Crest. Due to his work with Michael and the crew, Franklin gets distanced from The Families. While he is talking to Lamar and Denise about the same, Trevor arrives at the scene saying he wants to make new friends.
Trevor accompanies them on a drug deal with some Ballas set up by Stretch. Trevor breaks open a brick of cocaine to find out that it is actually drywall. Things go south when a shootout begins and Franklin, Trevor and Lamar try to escape from the scene. Their van breaks down just when the LSPD arrive at the scene. However, they escape on a bunch of Jet-skis and evade the police. Lamar tells Franklin how it could have been set up by Stretch in an attempt to kill Lamar.
Trevor informs Michael and Franklin about some secret cargo they can steal from a group called the Merryweather. The heist turns out to be a success but when Lester arrives, he advises them to return it as it would have some extremely bad consequences. Trevor doesn’t agree at first, but with a little convincing from Franklin and Michael he gets the needful done. Franklin soon gets a job by Devin Weston along with his crew to steal some expensive cars. He also carries out several assassinations on orders from Lester, enabling him to move into a spacious mansion.
Franklin starts looking out for Michael and Trevor, leading him to Floyd’s apartment where Trevor had been staying. Franklin runs into Wade and Floyd who inform him that Trevor is with Michael in Sandy Shores after a job for Madrazo went wrong. They also tell him that the O’Neil brothers are after Trevor following the incident where Trevor killed most of the O’Neils and burned down their farm. Franklin tracks down the O’Neil brothers and chases them.
They escape into the Raton Forest on foot after a crash. Trevor and Michael arrive at the scene in a helicopter and shoot down Wade and Wynn O’Neil using a thermal scope. Franklin, with the help of Chop, finds Elwood O’Neil and kills him.
Another assignment by the FIB is soon coming up and in order to secure funds to purchase equipment for the same, Franklin along with Michael and Trevor rob the Blaine County Savings Bank. The money heist is a success and they get hold of the millions of dollars deposited there by Blaine County’s corrupt law enforcement. Haines and Norton are given a majority of the money from the robbery to purchase the equipment required for the heist at the Humane Labs and Research chemical plant while Franklin, Michael and Trevor split a small cut between themselves.
Lamar contacts Franklin to inform him that he has stolen the last car on Devin’s list. Franklin and Lamar drive to Little Bighorn Avenue where Trevor is waiting with a Packer full of cars. The journey to deliver these cars begins and soon it attracts the cops’ attention, who start chasing them. Franklin manages to get into the JB 700 and take down the police with the help of the newly added weapons on the car.
They deliver the cars to Devin but he refuses to pay them, making them furious. After a while, Franklin tries to contact Michael unaware of the drama that went down between Michael and Trevor. Franklin is unable to connect to Michael. Lester suggests he inquire with Trevor. Soon, Trevor arrives at Franklin’s place while he is full of rage and tells him that the Triads kidnapped Michael after what went down at the graveyard. Franklin sets out to rescue Michael all by himself since Trevor refused to help and said that Michael was “dead” to him. Franklin successfully rescues Michael with the help of a tracking app sent to him by Lester. Michael explains to Franklin the deal between him and Norton.
Soon after that, Steve Haines calls in Michael and Franklin for one more job. Since the Research lab raid got him arrested and damaged his reputation, he wanted Franklin and Michael to recover the data from the FIB building. It turns out to be a success and they celebrate their victory.
Shortly after that, Franklin is visited by his ex-girlfriend Tanisha who tells him that Stretch set Lamar up again with a large group of the Ballas at Paleto Forest Sawmill. Franklin asks Lester to contact Michael and Trevor to help him rescue Lamar. The mission is a success but Lamar and Franklin have a small argument. Franklin is then approached by FIB agents Steve Haines and Dave Norton ordering him to kill Trevor as he could be a potential liability to them, but Franklin refuses to do so and instead suggests that Michael do the job.
Soon after this, the protagonist trio along with Lester, carry out the heist of their dreams and walk out with millions of dollars worth of gold from the Union Depository. After the heist, Devin Weston approaches Franklin ordering him to kill Michael as revenge. Now, Franklin has to either kill Trevor or Michael, or team up with both of them to eliminate all of their enemies.
Franklin is a well built guy standing tall at a height of 6’1 (1.85m). He normally wears a blue buttoned-up shirt on a white sweatshirt and black jeans. Throughout the game he is seen wearing many different outfits. He comes off as a fashionable guy who cares about how he looks even on a Tuesday morning.
Franklin and Michael have more of a father-son relationship throughout the game. From their very first time working together, Franklin has looked up to Michael as a mentor. He admires his skill level and hence keeps coming back to work with him.
They first meet when Franklin tries to repossess a car that Michael‘s son Jimmy buys from Simeon Yetarian. Michael, who was hiding in the backseat, holds a gun to Franklin’s head, instructing him to drive into the front of Simeon’s showroom. This is where their friendship began. Michael could trust Franklin with having his back covered, as he rescued Michael from the capture of the Triads single handedly.
Trevor didn’t get the best vibe from Franklin when they first met. He doubted Michael’s decision of having Franklin work with them but eventually got close to the guy. Trevor and Franklin worked together multiple times and did make a good team. In the Deathwish ending where the trio defeat all their enemies together, Trevor tells Franklin that he is proud of him.
Lamar has been a good friend of Franklin’s since school but they very often have arguments regarding living a life of crime or making something better of oneself. Franklin always considered Lamar to be his best friend and also saved his life multiple times. Lamar, too, offers his help in the Deathwish ending when he sees that Franklin wants to work along with Michael and Trevor selflessly.
Denise Clinton is Franklin’s aunt. Denise and Franklin don’t get along well. He is often seen irritated at her when she has her women friends over at the house. However, he just laughs it off and leaves every time. She is seen telling him that he hasn’t been loyal to the gang and the family. They mutually cut ties and he eventually moves into his Vinewood mansion. Around his mansion on Vinewood Hills you can see pictures of Denise which shows that Franklin still respects her.
Just like Trevor, Lester too didn’t have complete faith in Franklin’s abilities to pull off a heist, but Franklin’s actions changed Lester’s opinion of him. Lester even called him to do a few assassination jobs for him for which he was rewarded with the Vinewood Hills mansion. Franklin found Lester's help very useful when rescuing both Lamar and Michael.
Simeon is Franklin’s former boss while Franklin worked at his car dealership. Simeon used Franklin for the repossession of the cars he sold to people. Although Franklin didn’t like what Simeon was doing, he knew he had to do it to make a living. Franklin was fired as he drove into the front of the showroom on Michael’s orders.
Franklin and Stretch are fellow gang members of the Families gang. They do not have a friendly relationship as they keep exchanging insults and threats. Franklin tries to stay away from Stretch as far as possible except for when he sets up Lamar multiple times, trying to get him killed. In the Deathwish ending, Franklin tells Michael to kill Stretch and states that he wasn’t his friend, just a guy who couldn’t be trusted.
Tanisha is Franklin’s ex-girlfriend. The reason for their breakup was Franklin’s criminal lifestyle. Tanisha reminds Franklin that even though he is now wealthy, the wealth is from a criminal life. She visits Franklin to inform him that he needs to save Lamar who is in trouble and also tells him that she is getting married soon, to a Doctor.
Franklin did a few jobs for Devin Weston such as stealing expensive cars for him, only to not get paid. Franklin and Lamar were mad at him for not paying them but he was forced to do jobs for him anyway. Devin arrives at Franklin’s mansion asking him to kill Michael for the damage he caused to Devin. In The Third Way, Franklin, Michael and Trevor push Devin off a cliff in a car, killing him.
A. Franklin Clinton was born in 1988 according to his license plate, making him 25 years old in GTA V.
A. Franklin Clinton’s voice actor is Shawn Fonteno.
A. Franklin Clinton went to jail for one of his petty crimes in 2008.
A. Franklin Clinton is not related to CJ in any way as game characters but their real-life voice actors are cousins.
All Issues
