Director Ron Howard soared to Hollywood's A-list in adulthood after starring as Opie Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show as a child. He has become one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation as well as an Oscar winner and nominee multiple times over. But he wasn't the only one in the family who had talent. His daughter Bryce Dallas Howard has gone on to become a well-known actress of her own right, as well as an aspiring filmmaker -- just like her father.
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Bryce and her siblings, who Howard welcomed with his wife Cheryl, were not exposed to the world of acting early on. They were raised away from the Tinsel Town frenzy, splitting time between New York and a farm in Connecticut. The Howards encouraged their children to get outside and enjoy nature instead of sitting inside watching the television. But when Bryce was 7 she was able to be an extra in her father's film Parenthood and it seems she was hooked. She even had bit parts in Apollo 13, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Beautiful Mind. The family was also constantly surrounded by other stars -- Bryce's godfather is Henry Winkler, her father's former Happy Days co-star and apparently, Tom Cruise is a family friend who would regularly babysit her and her siblings. Imagine that! Regardless, she has some solid examples of what it looks like to find success in the industry.
The future star went on to attend New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before launching her acting career on Broadway. It was actually her appearance in As You Like It that she gained the attention of director M. Night Shyamalan who cast her in The Village as well as Lady in the Water. Bryce explained to Interview Magazine that throughout her career, the one benefit of growing up visiting her dad's film sets and seeing the process behind the scenes is that she never got discouraged as an aspiring actress.
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"I started taping my dad's auditions when I was 11, when he was auditioning actors for one of his movies. I would see, over and over again, that there wasn't just one actor for the role. It was really clear that there were a lot of people who could play a character really well, and it would always come down to something kind of weird and non-obvious as to why a person was cast. If you're not right, you're not right, but that's okay."
Bryce went on to appear in major films like Manderlay, Spider-Man 3, Terminator Salvation, the memorable role of Hilly Holbrook in The Help, Claire Dearing the new Jurassic Park franchise Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opposite Chris Pratt, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Disney's Pete's Dragon, Rocketman, and more. The actress told the Guardian that her father really is an expert at filmmaking which she appreciates after years of working with other people.
"I've seen folks underestimate his creativity and artistry because of what a great collaborator he is. He really knows how to be in service to the story and he loves actors so much. I've been on a lot of movie sets that are not my dad's and I can tell you he understands film-making."
Being Ron Howard's daughter, it's only natural that Bryce has also dabbled in directing. She released a documentary on Apple titled Dads and interviews other notable celebs ranging from Jimmy Kimmel, her grandfather Rance, Will Smith, and even her brother Reed. Her goal was to highlight all of the hard work dads put into raising their kids since it's often overlooked by how much work the woman does.
"If this is a movie about fathers, it's a comedy. Like, let's be clear: This is a comedy! She explained to CBS News. And why's that? "Well, because every day as a parent is a comedy, you know? It just is!"
Similar to her parents, Bryce has been happily married to actor Seth Gabel since 2006 whom she met attending NYU. The couple has two children together, Beatrice and Theodore and we can't wait to see if either of them decides to go into the family business down the line!
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