C. Thomas Howell

Known for ActingBorn 1966-12-07 (age 59)Los Angeles, California, USA

Christopher Thomas Howell (born December 7, 1966), usually credited as C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitcher as Jim Halsey. He has appeared in Soul Man, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Gettysburg, H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stopped and Gods and Generals. Howell was born in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles to Christopher N. and Candice Howell. He has three siblings. His father worked as a stunt coordinator and rodeo performer. He played the role of the Red Knight in Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King. As a young boy, Howell wanted to be a stuntman and was a child stunt performer. He was also a rodeo star. When Howell was young, his parents divorced. Howell graduated from Saugus High School in 1984. In 1982, Howell made his film debut as Tyler in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. At the age of 15 in 1981, Howell was cast in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders (1983). Howell played the lead role of Ponyboy Curtis, "the soulful tagalong greaser through whose eyes we see the events of the 1960s-set film unfold." Based on S.E. Hinton's bestselling 1967 novel of the same name,the coming-of-age film went on to become a cult classic. Howell's portrayal of Ponyboy was his breakthrough role, and it earned him a Young Artist Award. In 1984, Howell and his Outsiders co-star Patrick Swayze reunited for Grandview, U.S.A. and Red Dawn. Howell also had a pivotal role in Tank (1984). In 1985, he starred in Secret Admirer. After filming The Outsiders, Howell co-starred in his own television series Two Marriages, which ended after four episodes, but letters of support got it back on air. He later expressed disappointment in the series. Howell was one of two final actors in the running for the lead role of Marty McFly in Back to the Future (1985); the other was Eric Stoltz. Ultimately, Michael J. Fox was cast as Marty after Stoltz was deemed wrong for the part. In 1986, Howell was a hitchhiker's target in the film The Hitcher. He also starred in the sequel, which was released in 2003. In 1986, Howell starred in Soul Man, a film in which Howell appears in Blackface. Rounding out the 1980s , Howell played the young Arturo Toscanini in Franco Zeffirelli's 1988 film Young Toscanini.Read more

Movies & web series

The E.T. Journals

Cybermaster: Shepherd II

Staying Gold: A Look Back at 'The Outsiders'

Burning Down the House

1923

Sons of Anarchy

Grimm

Criminal Minds

Marvel's The Punisher

Where the Wind Blows

SEAL Team

The Walking Dead

Xenophobia

Bosch

Fighting Words

Castle

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox

Southland

Psych

Blue Bloods

Hawaii Five-0

Longmire

Asylum Days

24

Amazon

ER

The Blacklist

The Outer Limits

A Question of Faith

Creepshow

Sleepy Hollow

The Terror

The Hitcher: How Do These Movies Get Made?

Will Trent

MacGyver

Ride

Secret at Arrow Lake

Celebrity Ghost Stories

Torchwood

Moonlighting

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

WillFull

Fatal Affair

Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay

Justice League: Gods and Monsters

I Am Patrick Swayze

Obliterated

The Glades