Profession: Actor, Director, Producer

The guy behind the successful, Oscar winning movie, A Beautiful Mind, Ron Howard has been into cinema and art all his life, but never graduated from college as he chose to drop out of School of Cinematic Arts from the University of Southern California. Howard went on to become one of the most successful directors in Hollywood with a multitude of smash hits among his credits, including Splash, Cocoon, Willow, Backdraft, Far and Away, The Paper, Ransom, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Cinderella Man.

Hall of fame

Taking his parents’ path, with mother Jean Speegle Howard being an actress and father, Rance Howard who was a director, writer and an actor, Ron Howard started out his career by taking up small roles, his first role being the film The Journey, June Allyson’s CBS series The DuPont Show with June Allyson, Twilight Zone and other small roles on the television.

In 1960, he was cat as Opie taylor in hit show The Andy Griffith Show, in which he portrayed the son of the title character for all eight seasons of the show. This show was filmed in a house that was rented by his parents on the block south of the Desilu Studios, the place where Ron was tutored. The Andy Griffith Show made him familiar with the audience and gave him the much needed name and fame.

Howard made his directorial debut with the 1977 comedy Grand Theft Auto which was an instant hit with the audience, and led him to carve his niche in Hollywood as a promising director. He then took up directing seriously and went on to direct Happy Days in 1980 after which came a series of blockbuster movies that made him one of the best directors that Hollywood has seen. He had his big break in 1982 with the film, Night Shift. His best films include Cocoon, Apollo 13, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and of course A Beautiful Mind in the year 2001. Howard later won the Academy Award for Best Director with A Beautiful Mind. In 2003, Howard was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Another cool thing about him is that a newly discovered asteroid was named after him, Asteroid 12561 Howard.  He also directed The Da Vinci Code in the year 2006, which earned him more than $758 million at the box office. In 2013, Howard was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. He was even reported to corporate with Brian Gazer to bring Friday Night Lights back to the big screen.

He is probably one of the very directors who can boast of directing 8 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Don Ameche, Dianne Wiest, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Giamatti, and Frank Langella. Ameche and Connelly won Oscars for their performances in one of Howard’s movies.

Let’s get to the money

His directorial talent has surely earned him more than just a few extra bucks. His films have always blown the box office by surprises and more and more money. Here’s list of the estimated total gross of his big flicks:

Angels & Demons- $133,375,846

Rush- $26,947,62

The Da Vinci Code- $217,536,138

A Beautiful Mind- $10,000,000

The Dilemma- $10,000,000

Cinderella Man- $61,649,911

Backdraft- $77,868,585

Apollo 13- $172,071,312

Cocoon- $76,113,124

Parenthood-$100,047,830

$10 million: The Dilemma (Howard’s fee for directing Vince Vaughn comedy)
$2.5 million: The Dilemma (joint fee for producing)
$2.5 million: Cowboys & Aliens (joint fee for producing)

Apart from his directorial ventures, he also happens do some business of his own. He owes his fortune to smart stock investments, substantial property holdings, lucrative endorsement deals with Cover Girl cosmetics. He also owns several restaurants (the Fat Howard Burger chain) in Washington, a Football Team (The Duncan Angels), has launched his own brand of Vodka (Pure Wonderhoward – US), and is tackling the juniors market with a top-selling perfume (With Love from Ron) and a fashion line called ‘Ron Howard Seduction.’ He started two production companies – Major H Productions (which ran until 1985) and then, in 1985, Howard started in 1986 as executive producer with producer Brian Grazer. Presently, he is the co-chairman of Imagine Entertainment, a film and TV production company responsible for such work as Friday Night Lights, 8 Mile and the popular Arrested Development. Though it has a mere 40 employees it turned a whopping revenue of $3.8 million in the fiscal year ending September 2008. Also, the word is around that business partners, Brain Grazer and Ron Howard want to set up a marketing consultancy and digital studio to help companies market their brands.

With all this wealth to his, he hardly seems overwhelmed, for he once said that this is all a number game and advised people not get emotionally involved in these things. Now, that’s one heck of a statement.

Personal Life: I keep to myself

Howard married his high-school sweetheart and they have four children,  two who are actors. His personal life may not be all fun, but here’s a fun fact to read: all of Howard’s four children are named after the places they were conceived: Bryce Dallas in Dallas, Texas, Paige Carlyle and Jocelyn Carlyle at the Hotel Carlyle in New York City, and Reed Cross after a specific road, according to Bryce Dallas Howard. His younger brother is none other than the talented, Clint Howard.

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