Bryce Dallas Howard

American actress Bryce Dallas Howard is the daughter of Oscar-winning director and actor Ron Howard. She is best known for her roles in the films The Village, Manderlay, Lady in the Water, Spider-Man 3 and Terminator Salvation. She replaced Rachelle Lefevre in the third film of the Twilight series, Eclipse which is based on the books by Stephenie Meyer.

Conceived in Dallas, Texas – the source of her middle name – she was born on March 2, 1981 in Los Angeles, California to Cheryl Alley and Ron Howard on the 2nd of March 1981. Her paternal grandparents were actors Jean Speegle Howard and Rance Howard and her uncle is actor Clint Howard; her godfather is actor Henry Winkler, who co-starred on Happy Days with her father.

Howard and her younger sisters, twins Jocelyn Carlyle Howard and Paige Carlyle Howard, and their younger brother, Reed Cross Howard, were raised away from the world of show business. Their parents did not allow them access to television and instead encouraged reading, outside play, and hobbies. Nevertheless, all four Howard children can be seen as extras in some of their father's films, such as in 1999's EDtv. In an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Howard mentioned that she and her siblings were babysat by family friend Tom Cruise on several occasions.

She was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, where she graduated from Greenwich Country Day School in 1996. When she was in ninth grade at Greenwich Country Day School, she performed as Miss Adelaide in the musical Guys and Dolls, and in a variety show with her own unique version of Leiber and Stoller's "I Am A Woman." She later attended Byram Hills High School in Armonk, New York, where she performed in a number of shows on their stage, and graduated in 1999. Howard also attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts camp in upstate New York, with one of her good friends: actress Natalie Portman. After graduating from high school, Howard studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for three years, during which time she also attended the Stella Adler Conservatory, The Experimental Wing, and International Theatre Wing in Amsterdam. During her schooling, Bryce took part in the concept recording of the Broadway-bound musical A Tale of Two Cities. She graduated with her BFA in Drama in 2003. Howard is also an alumna of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's prestigious School at Steppenwolf in Chicago, and of The Actors Center in New York City. During her time in New York, Howard was also a member of downtown theater company Theater Mitu, in residence at New York Theatre Workshop, who are known for their daring and stunning exploration of theatrical forms.

Howard has appeared in several of her father's (Ron Howard) films as an extra before her feature film début came in director Alan Brown's 2004 drama, Book of Love. She also appeared in numerous productions on the New York stage, but her breakthrough role came in M. Night Shyamalan M. Night Shyamalan]'s The Village, which she was cast in without having to audition after Shyamalan saw her in a Broadway show. Following that, Howard was cast by Lars Von Trier to replace Nicole Kidman as Grace in Manderlay (2005). She collaborated again with Shyamalan in the 2006 release Lady in the Water, in which she plays Story, a type of water nymph called a "narf".

In 2006, Howard starred as Rosalind in Kenneth Branagh's film version of Shakespeare's As You Like It, opposite David Oyelowo as Orlando. The film, which also starred Kevin Kline, Alfred Molina, and Romola Garai, played theatres in Europe before going directly to cable in the United States. Despite the fact that the film was not actually made for television, Howard was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance.

In May 2007, Howard appeared as Peter Parker's new love interest Gwen Stacy in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. She dyed her naturally red hair blonde for the role (coincidentally, leading lady Kirsten Dunst's naturally blonde hair was dyed red for the role of Mary Jane Watson). Howard beat out Elisha Cuthbert and Sienna Miller for the part. However, she was replaced by Emma Stone for Spider-Man 4, which is set for a May 6, 2011 release. It was later confirmed on January 12, 2010 that the film had been cancelled in favor of a reboot, which is slated for release in 2012.

Howard played the lead role in the film, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, co-starring Chris Evans, Ellen Burstyn, Ann-Margret, and David Strathairn. She landed the role after Lindsay Lohan dropped out. The film is based on a 1957 screenplay by Tennessee Williams. The film, however, did not play many engagements. She also played the role of Kate Connor in the 2009 movie Terminator Salvation.

Howard wrote and directed a short film, Orchids, starring Alfred Molina, as part of Glamour magazine's "Reel Moments" series funded by Cartier and FilmAid International.

Howard played the role of Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, replacing Rachelle Lefevre. Filming started August 2009 in Vancouver. This marked the third time, following Manderlay and Terminator Salvation, that she replaced another actress in a sequel. (Nicole Kidman played Grace in Dogville; Claire Danes played Kate Brewster in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.) In December 2009, she was cast in Clint Eastwood's film Hereafter.

Howard has teamed with her father to produce Gus Van Sant's upcoming film Restless.

Personal life

On June 17, 2006, Howard married actor Seth Gabel. They met at New York University and dated for five years. They currently live in Hollywood, California. Howard and Gabel welcomed their first child, a son named Theodore Norman Howard Gabel, nicknamed Theo, on February 16, 2007.

On July 22, 2010 she publicly revealed that she has been battling severe postpartum depression since 2007 after the birth of her son.

List of Awards and Nominations.

Source: Wikipedia