Ron Howard Says He Worried About Daughter Bryce Dallas Howard Facing 'the Opie Mythology' as a Child Actor

It's a family affair for the Howards.

Bryce Dallas Howard joined her dad, Ron Howard, and uncle, fellow actor (and Ron's young brother) Clint Howard, for a panel at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday, Feb. 9.

Speaking about his early life in Oklahoma, Ron, 70, ruminated on how his own parents (director Rance Howard and actress Jean Speegle) propelled his start as a child actor on shows like The Andy Griffith Show (in which he starred as Opie Taylor) and, later, Happy Days.

Like himself, Ron said Bryce began to "show a real aptitude" for performing when she was just a child — but he worried about her falling into his shadow.

"She would ask about [acting], and my wife Cheryl and I would say, 'No, we can't let you be a child actor,' " Ron said. "We didn't have the bandwidth to do what my parents did, which is really supervising ... And plus I felt like that the Opie mythology was a little bit tough, you know, too much to ask a kid to face as a child performer."

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But Bryce, now 43, continued to show an aptitude for film, Ron added.

"As a student, Bryce was unbelievable. She did every show, every summer program, and by the time she was, I don't know, 14 or 15, I could see that she could be a professional anytime she wanted to be," he continued. "And yet we didn't still didn't allow it, and she kept learning, and she's never stopped learning, and now she's carried that into directing."

"The thing I love is that Bryce is into this for the right reason. She loves the process and she loves the audience," Ron then said.

Bryce echoed her love of film during the panel, at one point telling the audience that her family has a mantra they turn to again and again. "It's something from my grandfather that we always say to each other, which is: 'You know where to kick it — kick it in the ass.' "

"It takes courage to just go for something ... So when you've prepared, you've done the research, you've had the conversations, you've challenged your biases, you're ready, ready, ready — you kind of need that shove. And that's I think what we all do for one another," she added.

At a Happy Days reunion event held at MegaCon on Friday, Feb. 7, Ron said he initially entered Hollywood as a child actor but quickly realized he was more attracted to the role of the director.

"I always liked acting. I always liked being around it," he said. "But very, very early on, I was attracted to the role of the director. And years later, I recognized that I don't have the performer's personality. I wasn't hungry to perform ... I was just dying to be behind the camera."

Still, the veteran filmmaker — who has recently appeared as himself in Hulu's Only Murders in the Building and will soon do the same in the forthcoming Seth Rogen Apple TV+ series The Studio — said he would consider acting again if it was for one of his daughter's projects.

"Look: If Bryce wanted me to be in a movie or a TV show she was directing, I would make time for that," Ron explained.

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Ron, a longtime filmmaker, previously won Best Director and Best Picture at the 2002 Academy Awards for A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany.

He shares daughter Bryce with wife Cheryl Howard, whom he met in high school and married in 1975. They also share three other children: twins Jocelyn and Paige, 39, and son Reed, 37.

Bryce, meanwhile, found success in film and television after being cast in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2004 thriller The Village. She has since gone on to star in Spider-Man 3, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Help, Black Mirror, the blockbuster Jurassic World film series and, most recently, Argylle.

Like her father, she has also directed several works, including episodes of three Star Wars TV series: The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Skeleton Crew. Bryce made her feature directorial debut with the 2022 documentary Dads.