Ron Howard Biography

He appeared in his first movie, ‘Frontier Woman’ (1955), at eighteen months, and made his stage debut aged two. Howard was soon a regular on ‘Playhouse 90’, and appeared in the film ‘The Journey’ in 1959.

Cast as Opie on the ‘Andy Griffith’s Show’ in 1960, he became nationally famous, growing up onscreen during the sixties. Protected by his father, he maintained a state school education, and began to dabble in amateur filmmaking.

In 1971, he starred opposite Henry Fonda in ‘The Smith Family’, who encouraged his ambition. As a result, he landed a role in George Lucas’ 1973 teen film ‘American Graffiti’. The film spawned the 1950s revival craze, and, ultimately, the hit show, ‘Happy Days’, in 1974, in which Howard became a superstar, playing Richie Cunningham.

Appearing in films on the side - such as the John Wayne movie ‘The Shootist’ (1976), Howard persuaded producer Roger Corman to let him direct and star in ‘Grand Theft Auto’ in 1977, for which he also co-wrote the screenplay.

Howard’s first directorial hit was with ‘Nightshift’ in 1982, and he formed Imagine Films Entertainment in 1985. With ‘Splash’ for Disney in 1984, featuring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, Howard became a top director.

Movies such as ‘Cocoon’ (1985) and ‘Willow’(1988) confirmed his status, and, after the flops of ‘Backdraft’(1991) and ‘Far And Away’(1992), he came back with the blockbuster ‘Apollo 13’ in 1995, winning a Director’s Guild Association Outstanding Feature award for the movie.

Following 'EdTV’ in 1999, Howard directed Jim Carrey in ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas’. In 2001, his movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’ took home Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Director. Starring Russell Crowe in the lead role, with Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany playing supporting characters, the movie, based on a Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, was also a commercial success.

Howard’s 2003 western thriller ‘The Missing’ saw the Apache language spoken by actors in the movie, while 2005’s ‘Cinderella Man’ explored the life of heavyweight boxing champion James J Braddock. Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’ marked another collaboration with writer Akiva Goldsman. The film, based on the worldwide bestselling 2003 novel of the same title, was naturally controversial given its subject matter, but this only helped to catapult it to great box office success.

The talented producer went on to work on historical drama ‘Frost/Nixon’ in 2008, before returning with another movie based on Brown’s work ‘Angels & Demons’ the following year. A prequel to ‘The Da Vinci Code’, the film was also commercially successful and paved the way for Howard to work on the next project in the franchise –‘The Lost Symbol’ - which is scheduled for release in 2012.

Although he is known for his talent behind the scenes, Howard occasionally acts too and has appeared in a number of movies in various roles. However, many of these parts, including in ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ and ‘A Beautiful Mind’, were uncredited.

Despite more than five decades of success in the film and television industry, Howard has remained committed to his family life and has been married to high-school sweetheart Cheryl Alley since 1975.