TSPDT

Key Production Countries: USA, UK
Key Genres: Drama, Comedy, Docudrama, Fantasy, Documentary, Media Satire, Crime Thriller, Biopic, Thriller, Urban Comedy, Sports Drama, Domestic Comedy
Key Collaborators: Mike Hill (Editor), Brian Grazer (Producer), Daniel P. Hanley (Editor), James Horner (Composer), Michael Corenblith (Production Designer), Lowell Ganz (Screenwriter), Babaloo Mandel (Screenwriter), Salvatore Totino (Cinematographer), Hans Zimmer (Composer), Tom Hanks (Leading Actor), Donald Peterman (Cinematographer), Jack T. Collis (Production Designer)

"Ron Howard once remarked that he became a director in order to avoid being typecast as an actor. He has also refused to be typecast as a director. Although all of his films are explorations of the human experience, he has ventured into many genres—science fiction, fantasy, epic adventure, romance, comedy, drama, satire—as well as into countless worlds. Ultimately, Howard sees himself and his directorial career as a work in progress. He has said, ‘‘One of the great things about being a director as life choice is that it can never be mastered. Every story is its own kind of expedition, with its own set of challenges.’’ It would be impossible to guess what the future will hold for Howard, other than that he will undoubtedly continue to make films at the brisk pace of roughly one a year, and he will explore the human condition with the all-American values and respect for Hollywood tradition inculcated as a child playing all-American boys beloved by all-American audiences." - Victoria Price (International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 2000)

"First he won our hearts as a child and teen actor playing the beloved TV characters Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham. Then he started directing popular (and critically acclaimed) movies, from Splash and Cocoon to Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind. Often in partnership with his Imagine Entertainment cofounder, Brian Grazer, and working with the industry’s top talent as well as its up-and-comers, Howard has produced more than 120 films and shows, and he has acted in or directed more than 130, all while maintaining a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood." - Alison Beard (Harvard Business Review, 2023)

"Originally a child actor in movies (and later on TV) known as Ronny Howard, he developed into one of Hollywood's most successful directors. With a commercial touch leavened with a surprising sensitivity, he fashioned an enviable record of critical and box-office hits during the 1980s… Howard's directing efforts were richly rewarded when he received an Oscar as best director for A Beautiful Mind (2001), starring Russell Crowe." - The Encyclopedia of Hollywood, 2004

"Thoughtful and conscientious, not to mention one of the most successful filmmakers of the 20th and 21st centuries, whose movies as a director have grossed more than $4.3 billion globally and have won about 40 film awards, with A Beautiful Mind garnering four Oscars. Howard’s work also has had a lasting cultural impact: Over the past four decades, movies like Splash, Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind have become staples of American cinema and also helped define American culture globally. Since 2012, Howard, now 68, has solidified himself, quietly, as a documentarian, with films like Made in America, Pavarotti, Rebuilding Paradise and We Feed People." - Beatrice Verhoeven (The Hollywood Reporter, 2022)

"As a director, there is fun and novelty in his early work: Daryl Hannah could not ask for better than Splash; Cocoon did raise the dread topic of old age; and no one has looked at flame with the awe of Backdraft. But such virtues pale in the larger blandness of the works. His record shows the market there is for what Howard does, but I can hardly watch such profit with pleasure… He directs big films now, even if most of them seem derived from prior works or topical situations. But The Grinch was very unusual, and a huge success, and A Beautiful Mind was an unusual exploration of inner worlds, even if it settled for a false kindliness. Just as it won best picture, so Howard is a Thalberg Award winner one day—and a deserved one: he makes Hollywood feel better about itself. And these days that is a tough trick. Of course, it might be better for the artist in Howard if he felt less settled or secure about things—about everything." - David Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2010)

"Ron Howard has been on movie sets since he was 18 months old. He became a child star playing Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show throughout the '60s. He then became a household name starring as Richie Cunningham on Happy Days in the '70s. But his lifetime of experience on sets was the very reason Howard thought he might not achieve his true dream: Directing… Not only would Howard go on to become a filmmaker — making his feature directorial debut with 1977's Grand Theft Auto — but he has directed some of the most popular and acclaimed films of his generation: Movies like Splash (1983), Parenthood (1989), Backdraft (1991), Apollo 13 (1995), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Cinderella Man (2005), and Rush (2013), to name but a few." - A.Frame (2022)

"I grew up as a child actor, been working all my life, and I love it. But it does create a kind of bubble. So I look for projects that lead me to life experiences I wouldn’t have otherwise had – and on my own I’m an introverted, risk-averse individual. But, when there’s a story to be told, it gets me out of the house, talking to people, learning things. And then I just go." - Ron Howard (The Guardian, 2020)