C Thomas Howell

At 57 years old, C Thomas Howell has this physical status:

Howell made his show business debut in The Brian Keith Show. When he got older, he acted in commercials.

In 1982, Howell made his film debut as Tyler in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

At the age of 15, 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 1950s-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 played a hitchhiker's target in the film The Hitcher. The sequel, in which he also starred, was released in 2003.

Howell starred as a white student who pretends to be black to receive a scholarship in Soul Man (1986). The film was commercially successful, but was condemned by the NAACP, other African-American advocacy groups, and director Spike Lee. It received mostly negative reviews from professional critics, and holds an aggregated score of 14% at Rotten Tomatoes. Howell has since stated that he does not regret the role, and that Soul Man was "an important part of [his] life" and "an important film" for racial relations in the United States.

In 1988, Howell played the young Arturo Toscanini in the story of the world-renowned conductors debut in Franco Zeffirelli's Giovane Toscanini with Irma Capece Minutolo and Elizabeth Taylor. The film was never released domestically.

In 1993, Howell starred with Linda Fiorentino and Nancy Allen in the campy thriller Acting on Impulse.

Howell achieved success in the film Gettysburg, which was popular with history buffs and history classrooms. He starred as Mike, a motorcycle courier in Mad Dogs and Englishmen (U.S. title: Shameless) with Elizabeth Hurley.

Howell starred in Payback and played gangster Baby Face Nelson in a film of the same name. He went on to direct and star in the 1996 direct-to-video release, Pure Danger, featuring alongside Teri Ann Linn and prop comic, Carrot Top.

In 2000, Howell played a doctor stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash in the television show Amazon. In 2004, he played serial killer Kenneth Bianchi in The Hillside Strangler.

In 2005, he starred in H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, one of three 2005 adaptations of the novel The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Howell directed and starred in a straight-to-DVD sequel War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave in 2008. Also in 2005, he reunited with his Secret Admirer co-star Lori Loughlin when he had a recurring role on her television show Summerland as Zac Efron's father. Howell appeared as a doctor in The Poseidon Adventure, an adaptation of the 1972 film of the same name. His father's first (uncredited) stunt co-ordination was for the original film.

In 2006, Howell starred in Hoboken Hollow. He also became a supporter of the production company The Asylum, which produced his straight-to-DVD films.

In 2008, Howell directed and starred in The Day the Earth Stopped, a mockbuster intended to capitalize on The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Beginning in 2009, Howell guest starred in Criminal Minds on CBS as serial killer George Foyet (The Boston Reaper), a recurring villain based on the Zodiac Killer. Also beginning in 2009, he played the role of Officer Bill 'Dewey' Dudek, a police officer recovering from alcoholism, in the L.A. police drama Southland.

In 2011, Howell guest starred as an inmate on The Glades and in Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Howell appeared in the 2012 film The Amazing Spider-Man.

Starting in 2015, Howell has had a recurring role as Dr. Daniel Stinger in the Freeform show Stitchers. In 2017, he had a recurring role as Ash Spenser, a retired Navy SEAL, in the CBS show SEAL Team.

In 2016 and 2018, Howell had a recurring guest-star role as Paul Belmont, a United States Navy Lieutenant Commander at Camp Pendleton, in Seasons 1 and 3 of Animal Kingdom.

Howell has worked with Francis Ford Coppola many times and in other areas of making motion pictures including writing, producing, and directing. In 1995, he wrote and directed Hourglass, in which he starred with Sofia Shinas. The following year, he helped produce The Big Fall and Pure Danger.

Howell did not write or direct another film until 2004. He and his father co-wrote the made-for-television film Hope Ranch, which Howell produced. Howell went on to write and produce Blind Injustice the next year. Two years later, he produced The Stolen Moments of September.

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