Ron Howard Reveals The One Thing That Would ‘Compel’ Him to Return to Acting (Exclusive)

Ron Howard has dedicated the majority of his Hollywood career to directing, but he says there is one thing — or person — that could lure him back to acting.

The actor-turned-director, 71, who serves as executive producer for the new Apple TV+ docuseries Fight for Glory: 2024 World Series says he would “love to do some acting,” but doesn’t see it in his future. “I happen to play myself in an upcoming episode of The Studio, and I had a lot of fun doing that… but it’s hard to make time for."

What would entice him to return to acting? His daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard. “I think that if my daughter Bryce cast me in something, that would compel me to put down the directing obligation, put them on hold for a minute and show up,” the former star of The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days tells PEOPLE, referring to his 44-year-old actor/director daughter.

He adds, “But otherwise, between what's going on at my company Imagine Entertainment with Brian Grazer and our team, and what I'm personally trying directorially, I keep my calendar full in ways that are exciting and I want to succeed at. I want to focus.”

Since he left Happy Days in 1984, his film and TV appearances have been mostly limited to voice roles, uncredited cameos and playing himself.

The Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind director says working behind the camera has proven to be “such a fascinating way of life.” He adds, “In the last decade, I’ve begun working on documentaries as well as scripted films, and I really love both."

Howard continues, “I think both disciplines are kind of informing each other in interesting ways, and it's stimulating some growth for me creatively, which is exciting at this point in my life. There are so many stories and ideas, a taste shift, a sensibility shift, and that puts different kinds of focus on storylines and styles of storytelling in cinema.”

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Much like the sport at the center of his new baseball docuseries, Howard — whose recent directorial projects include 2020's Hillbilly Elegy, 2022's Thirteen Lives and 2024's Eden — says filmmaking is a craft that can never be perfected.

“It is endlessly fascinating and satisfying for me, and I feel fortunate to keep doing it,” he explains. “It’s the medium that can’t be mastered. A little bit like baseball, nobody bats a thousand. You have to recognize that about filmmaking: You give it the medium and the audience and everything you’ve got, and then try to look for the next great story.”

While Howard isn’t sure what that next story will be, he is eager to get started. “I remain really exuberant and forward-thinking about what I'm doing," he says, "as long as I can physically enjoy it.”

Fight for Glory: 2024 World Series is now streaming on Apple TV+.