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“It’s why, in my own career, I am so grateful that I have bounced around and done enough varied characters to where nobody can quite pin me down for anything. About the closest thing anybody can pin me down for is being Ron Howard’s brother, which is something I’m very proud of. He’s a great man. He’s a better older brother than he is a movie director, and he’s an awesome movie director.” While Clint Howard may not be as well-known in Hollywood as his older brother,  he’s enjoyed a successful -- and inarguably interesting --career his own right. 

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Clint Howard has some serious career staying power: He’s been acting since he was just two years old. Since then, he’s regularly appeared on both the small and big screen in a remarkable diversity of roles. Here’s a closer look at the prolific career of this American actor. 

Born with Acting in his Blood

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Clinton “Clint” Engle Howard was born in Burbank, California on April 20, 1959 into an acting family: His parents, Rance Howard and Jean Speegle Howard, were both actors, as was his older brother, Ron Howard.

Howard started acting at the young age of two when he joined his brother on five episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. He played the role of cowboy outfit-clad Leon, who roamed the town of Mayberry offering bites of his sandwich to the people he encountered. Other early roles in Howard’s career included The Streets of San Francisco, The Virginian, Breaking Point, and The Fugitive.

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Howard was also breaking into the film industry at this time. His movie debut was in 1963’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. He also did voiceover work in films, including the role of elephant Haithi Jr. in 1967’s Disney film, The Jungle Book, and Roo in three Winnie the Pooh animations. 

Howard was just seven when he landed a role as a regular on the television series, Gentle Ben, in 1967. He made several other television appearances during this time period, including on Night Gallery and The Red Pony.

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Howard is also recognized for holding a prominent place in the Star Trek franchise. He first appeared on the show in 1966 in a first season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. Since then, he’s appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, and Star Trek: Discovery. 

Howard has very fond memories of growing up in Hollywood in the 1970s, including playing on the Happy Days softball team. “I was a pretty good high school player, I caught a little when I was a Junior. Around that time, the Happy Days show got a team together. They would play Sunday double headers in Poinsettia Park in Hollywood -- We played against guys like Alice Cooper, which was cool, because I’ve always considered him to be this icon,” he has said. 

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Howard has credited the mentorship of his father with his success, as well as the success of his brother, Ron.   “[My dad] did a wonderful job of teaching both Ron and I the basic man-of-the-earth attitudes about life, and we apply those to the entertainment business. You know, to work hard. It’s easy to be an actor at 8 or 9 in the morning, but it’s really important to be focused and work hard at 6 and 7 at night, after you’ve been on the set for 10 or 12 hours. That time counts, too, you know.”

Finding Fame in His Own Right

Adulthood found Howard continuing to expand his career.  He has been seen in episodes of Seinfeld, Married...with Children, Ny Name is Earl and I am Sylar. He was also on an episode of Arrested Development, a show narrated and produced by his brother. 

Speaking of Ron Howard, he and Clint enjoyed a happy working relationship, and the latter appeared in a whopping 17 movies directed by the former, including Cocoon, Gung Ho, Splash, Backdraft, Parenthood, Far and Away, Apollo 13, EDtv, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Howard’s other noteworthy film credits include The Missing, Frost/Nixon, The Dilemma, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, Get Crazy, The Waterboy, Heart of America, Tango & Cash, That Thing You Do!, the Austin Powers series, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Little Nicky, Ice Cream Man, The Wraith, Evilspeak, The Cat in the Hat, Halloween, Play the Game, Speed-Dating, and Nobody Gets Out Alive. Recently, he also appeared in the Howard-directed Solo: A Star Wars Story.

In the early 2000s, Howard also had a short-lived stint of his own talk show, The Clint Howard Variety Show, which numbered celebrities like Adam Sandler, Sally Kirkland and Judge Reinholt among its guests. Said Howard of the offbeat program which is now regarded as a cult classic, “The celebrity interviews took place in those low beach chairs in a corner of a vacant lot. I’d interview someone like Johnny Ramone, for like 50 seconds, and I’d ask two quick questions and by the time the third question came up I’d go ‘Oh, I’m sorry that’s all the time we have for this segment, but as you know each guest on the Clint Howard Variety Show receives 15 dollars and a turkey. Turkey provided by Handy Market Restaurant. Handy Market of Burbank, your neighborhood grocer since 1967.’ Then my sidekick, my announcer, Big Mike, would come over with this big dripping turkey in a bag and hand it to the celebrity and I’d pull out fifteen dollars out of my pocket and give it to the guest.”

In addition to acting, Clint Howard is also a musician, and was part of the new wave rock and roll group, The Kempsters, in the early 1980s.  He was also an avid golfer for many years, but had to quit due to hip replacements. After giving up golf, Howard discovered a new hobby: making one-of-a-kind snow globes. 

Given the amazing career behind Clint Howard, it begs the question: What’s next for him? Your guess is probably as good as his. Looking back on the many diverse roles he’s played over the years, Howard reflects, “I figure I just keep working and let the chips fall where they may, and if that means I end up having an eclectic career, so be it. For me to try to manipulate things or for me to try to tell people or the system how it should be…I’m just a kind of a more go-with-the-flow guy when it comes to my acting career.”