Academy® Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of today's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13 to the hit comedies Parenthood and Splash, he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films. He earned the 2001 Oscar® for Best Director for A Beautiful Mind, with the film also claiming Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress awards. The film garnered four Golden Globes® as well, including the award for Best Motion Picture - Drama. Howard also won Best Director of the Year from the Directors Guild of America. Howard and producer Brian Grazer also received the first annual Awareness Award from the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign for their work on the film.

Howard's skill as a director has long been recognized. In 1995, he received his first Best Director of the Year award from the DGA for his film Apollo 13. The true-life drama also garnered nine Academy® Award nominations, winning Oscars® for Best Film Editing and Best Sound, and it received Best Cast and Best Supporting Actor awards from the Screen Actors Guild. Many of Howard's past films have also received Academy® Award nods, including the popular hits Backdraft, Parenthood and Cocoon, which took home two Oscars®. In addition, Howard has served as an executive producer on a number of award-winning films and television shows, such as the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

Howard's portfolio includes some of the most popular films, and actors, of the past 20 years. In 1991, Howard created the acclaimed drama Backdraft, starring Robert De Niro, Kurt Russell and William Baldwin, and in 1992 he released the historical epic Far and Away, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

Howard directed Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise and Delroy Lindo in the 1996 suspense thriller Ransom, and he worked with Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise and Kathleen Quinlan on Apollo 13, which was re-released in IMAX theater format. Howard also directed Cinderella Man starring Russell Crowe, and The Missing starring Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett. Howard's other films include How the Grinch Stole Christmas, starring Jim Carrey, Parenthood starring Steve Martin, Night Shift, starring Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton and Shelley Long, and The Da Vinci Code, starring Tom Hanks.

Howard and longtime producing partner Brian Grazer first collaborated on the hit comedies Night Shift and Splash in 1982 and 1984, respectively. The pair co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 to create independently produced feature films. The company has since produced a variety of popular feature films, including the hits Nutty Professor, Nutty Professor 2, Liar, Liar, Bowfinger, The Paper and Inventing the Abbotts. Howard made his directorial debut in 1978 with the comedy Grand Theft Auto. He began his career as an actor. He first appeared in The Journey and The Music Man, then as "Opie" on the long-running television series The Andy Griffith Show. During the 1970s, Howard starred in the popular series Happy Days and drew favorable reviews for his performances in American Graffiti and The Shootist.

He lives in New York with his wife and four children.