Ron Howard

Ron Howard married Cheryl Alley on June 7, 1975. They have four children, including actors Bryce Dallas Howard and Paige Howard.

Howard and his younger brother, actor Clint Howard, co-wrote The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family, published in 2021. The memoir recounts their experiences growing up as sibling child actors in Hollywood.

Howard began performing as a child. He appeared on stage at 18 months and made his screen debut as a young performer before taking credited roles in television series including Playhouse 90, General Electric Theatre, The Danny Thomas Show, The Fugitive, and Dr. Kildare. He also appeared in the film The Journey in 1959.

In 1960, he was cast as Opie Taylor, the son of Andy Griffith's Sheriff Andy Taylor, on The Andy Griffith Show. Credited as Ronny Howard, he remained with the series throughout its eight-season run. His early films included The Music Man, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and The Wild Country.

Howard gained a major film role as Steve Bolander in George Lucas's American Graffiti in 1973. The following year, he began playing Richie Cunningham on Happy Days, opposite Henry Winkler as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. Howard left the series in 1980 to concentrate on directing, although he later made guest appearances.

Howard developed an interest in directing while working as an actor and spent two years in the University of Southern California's film program. He made his feature directorial debut with Grand Theft Auto in 1977. To obtain the opportunity, he agreed to act in a film for producer Roger Corman, then co-wrote the screenplay with his father, Rance Howard, and directed the project.

His early directing career included the comedies Night Shift, Splash, and Parenthood, as well as the fantasy film Willow and the firefighter drama Backdraft. The success of these films helped him expand from comedy into larger-scale dramas and historical subjects.

Howard directed Apollo 13 in 1995, dramatizing the 1970 space mission that nearly ended in disaster. The film starred Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton as astronauts, with Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan in supporting roles. It received nine Academy Award nominations and earned Howard the Directors Guild of America award for feature-film directing.

Howard directed A Beautiful Mind in 2001, a biographical drama about mathematician John Nash and his struggle with schizophrenia. Russell Crowe played Nash, with Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Josh Lucas, and Christopher Plummer also appearing in the film. A Beautiful Mind won the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Howard won Best Director.

His subsequent films included Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon, Angels & Demons, Rush, In the Heart of the Sea, Inferno, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Hillbilly Elegy, and Thirteen Lives. Frost/Nixon, based on the televised encounter between David Frost and Richard Nixon, brought Howard another Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

Howard has also directed documentaries, including Made in America, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years, Pavarotti, Rebuilding Paradise, and We Feed People. His documentary work has covered music, the aftermath of a wildfire, and disaster-relief efforts.

In 1986, Howard co-founded Imagine Entertainment with producer Brian Grazer. The company has produced films and television programs, including 24, Friday Night Lights, Arrested Development, and Genius.

Howard served as an executive producer and the uncredited narrator of Arrested Development. He also produced projects outside his own directing work, including Kindergarten Cop, My Girl, and the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

His honors include two Academy Awards for A Beautiful Mind, the National Medal of Arts, induction into the Television Hall of Fame, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He and Brian Grazer received the Producers Guild of America's Milestone Award in 2008.