(1981-)

Who Is Bryce Dallas Howard?

Bryce Dallas Howard wanted to pursue acting from a young age and graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of Arts in 2003. She appeared in several films including M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. She married actor Seth Gabel in 2006 and had a child one year later. In 2009, she agreed to play Victoria in the third Twilight film.

Early Life

Born March 2, 1981, in Los Angeles, California, Howard is the oldest of four children born to movie director Ron Howard and his wife, actress Cheryl. Like her three younger siblings, Howard's middle name comes from the city where she was conceived.

From an early age, Howard, who attended the renowned Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts camp in the Catskills region of New York state with close friend Natalie Portman, knew from an early age she wanted to be an actress. Exposure helped, and Howard is no stranger to the showbiz profession. She is the third generation of her family to act. Her grandparents, Rance and Jean Speegle Howard, both took to the stage. So did her father Ron, who was cast in his first movie when he was just 18 months old. Her uncle Clint, Ron's brother, is an actor as well, and she is also the goddaughter of Henry Winkler, who co-starred with her father in the ABC sitcom, Happy Days.

Just as Ron's parents were careful in keeping his childhood years as normal as possible, Bryce's parents were also cautious about their children getting too close to the Hollywood limelight too soon. As a result, Bryce Howard and her siblings grew up far from Hollywood's glare, in Greenwich, Connecticut. Still, as the daughter of one of the more respected directors, the business was hard to escape completely. As an actress, Bryce was thankful for the exposure because she learned from her father what it took to navigate the film world life. "I think it's an advantage because we've seen the ups and downs of this business," she told PBS' Charlie Rose in 2006. "And that if you keep working very, very hard ultimately you can technically succeed, you can find happiness in this business."

But carrying the Howard name still offered up some burdens, and as she began to think more seriously about her career, Bryce considered dropping it completely. Just one problem: She felt it sounded too much like an adult film star's name. So, with the Howard name still a part of her acting identity, she applied and was accepted to the Tisch School of Arts at New York University, where she earned a BFA in drama in 2003.

Movies

By the time Howard graduated from college, she had already put together a decent resume, one that included several Broadway productions as well as an appearance with her mom in 1995 in the film, Apollo 13, a movie directed by her father.

'The Village,' 'Lady in Water'

A year after graduating NYU, Howard's film career rolled impressively forward, first in a supporting role as Heather in Book of Love, and then as a young blind girl in the M. Night Shyamalan thriller, The Village. Two years later she appeared in a second Shyamalan project, Lady in Water. Her other credits include Manderlay (2005), As You Like It (2006), The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008), and Terminator Salvation (2009).

'Spider-Man,' 'The Twilight Saga' Franchise

Like her father, Bryce Dallas Howard, who sometimes goes by the nickname of Bry, isn't shy about working on big-budget Hollywood films. In 2007 the actress, playing Gwen Stacy, was one of the stars in the third Spider-Man movie. Then, in the summer of 2009, Howard's name bounded across the Internet and in movie publications when she was tapped to replace Rachelle Lefevre to play the villain Victoria in the upcoming third installment of The Twilight Saga franchise.

Howard also starred in the films The Hereafter (2010) with Matt Damon and 50/50 (2011) with Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

'The Help'

Also in 2011, Howard went back in time to transform into the snobby 1960s socialite Hilly Holbrook in the film adaptation of The Help, a novel written by Kathryn Stockett.

Not only was Howard in The Help but actress and fellow lookalike Jessica Chastain also had a starring role (but thankfully for fans who easily get confused with the two, Chastain's hair was dyed blonde for her role as Celia Rae Foote). Both actresses often joke publicly of how much they get confused for being each other, prompting Howard to even sing a song she entitled "I Am Not Jessica Chastain" via social media.

Howard told E! that the two women discussed their physical similarities on the set of The Help while looking in a mirror together.

"We were like, okay, so we both have a cleft chin, our noses go up, our placement is similar," Howard said. "I’m like, 'Jess, you’re way more chiseled you have big luscious lips.' I feel so lucky that people still feel like I look like her because I honestly feel like she’s the most beautiful person on planet Earth.”

'Jurassic World' Franchise

Howard also took on yet another big-budget Hollywood film, playing the character Claire Dearing, the operations manager in Jurassic World, opposite Chris Pratt. The film premiered in 2015 and became her most financially successful film she's been involved in, amassing over $1.6 billion internationally. Howard reprised her role in 2018 for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and 2022's Jurassic World: Domination.

Personal Life

Howard married Fringe actor and longtime boyfriend Seth Gabel in 2006. The couple has two children: a son Theodore (b. 2007) and a daughter Beatrice (b. 2012).

QUICK FACTS

Birth Year: 1981
Birth date: March 2, 1981
Birth State: California
Birth City: Los Angeles
Birth Country: United States
Gender: Female
Best Known For: Actress Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of Ron Howard, has starred in 'The Twilight Saga,' 'The Village' and the 'Jurassic Park' franchise.
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