Howard, Ron(ald) William (1954- )

US actor, director, and producer. He was a successful child actor, appearing as Opie Taylor in the television series The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68). He later became known for his all-American boy-next-door character Richie Cunningham in Happy Days (1974-80). His first hit as a director was the black comedy Nightshift (1982). He co-founded the production company Imagine Films Entertainment in 1985, and in 2002 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for his film A Beautiful Mind (2001).

His first successful film as an actor was American Graffiti (1973), which earned him the acclaim that led to his role in Happy Days. He directed the comedies Splash (1984), which launched the career of Daryl Hannah, and Cocoon (1985), which established his reputation. However his next films, Willow (1988), Backdraft (1991), and Far and Away (1992), were neither box office nor critical successes. He returned with the critically acclaimed Apollo 13 in 1995. His other films include the kidnapping thrillers Ransom (1996) and The Missing ~(2003), the comedies EdTV (1999) and The Grinch (2000), the boxing biopic Cinderella Man (2005), and the thriller The Da Vinci Code (2006).

Howard was born in Duncan, Oklahoma. He started acting at the age of two, and appeared in a variety of television programs including Dennis the Menace, The Fugitive, and The Big Valley. He appeared alongside Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr in the film The Journey at the age of five. As an adolescent he appeared in television and Disney films. After graduating from high school he studied cinema at the University of Southern California. He is the executive producer of the television series Felicity and The PJs.