Ron Howard

Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six decade career, Howard has received two Academy Awards, four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2003 and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2013. Howard has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions in film and television.

Howard first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of The Twilight Zone. He gained national attention for playing young Opie Taylor, the son of Sheriff Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show from 1960 through 1968. During this time, he also appeared in the musical film The Music Man (1962), a critical and commercial success. He was credited as Ronny Howard in his film and television appearances from 1959 to 1973. Howard was cast in one of the lead roles in the influential coming-of-age film American Graffiti (1973), and became a household name for playing Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days (1974–1980). He starred alongside Lee Marvin in 1974 in “The Spikes Gang” and played the second lead in John Wayne's final film, The Shootist (1976).

In 1980, Howard left Happy Days to focus on directing, producing and sometimes writing a variety of films and television series. His films included the comedies Night Shift (1982), Splash (1984), and Cocoon (1985) as well as the fantasy Willow (1988), the thriller Backdraft (1991), and the newspaper comedy-drama film The Paper (1994). Howard went on to win the Academy Award for Best Director and Academy Award for Best Picture for A Beautiful Mind (2001) and was nominated again for the same awards for Frost/Nixon (2008). Howard also directed other historical dramas such as Apollo 13 (1995), Cinderella Man (2005), Rush (2013), In the Heart of the Sea (2015) and Thirteen Lives (2022).

He also directed the children's fantasy film How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), the comedy The Dilemma (2011), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), as well as the Robert Langdon film series: The Da Vinci Code (2006), Angels & Demons (2009), Inferno (2016). Howard has gained recognition for directing numerous documentary films such as The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (2016), Pavarotti (2019), and We Feed People (2022).