- Ron Howard is known for his breakout role on Happy Days, and has transitioned into directing
- He has three girls and one son with his wife, Cheryl
- His most famous child is director and actress Bryce Dallas Howard
Ron Howard first rose to prominence as a child actor in the 1960s for his roles in The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, respectively, before foraying into film. The prolific director and producer, 69, has since gone on to direct films like A Beautiful Mind and Frost/Nixon, picking up a few Academy Award wins along the way. While a lot is known about his work, less is known about his family life.
For starters, he’s the father of Golden Globe-nominated actress Bryce Dallas Howard. Ron shares Bryce, 42, with his longtime wife Cheryl Howard, to whom he has been married since 1975. They share three other children together: Reed, 35, and twins Paige and Jocelyn, both 37. Much is known about his oldest child Bryce, but the same probably cannot be said for Ron’s three other talented children. Below is everything to know about the director‘s children.
Bryce Dallas Howard
Bryce Dallas Howard, who is not Jessica Chastain, is Ron and Cheryl’s oldest child. While she certainly needs no introduction, here’s a brief one anyway: Born in March 1981 in Los Angeles, Bryce is a well-known actress and director, having starred in films like The Help, Rocketman, and the Jurassic World franchise. Recently, she transitioned into the world of directing, working on a few episodes of the hit Disney+ series The Mandalorian. The star is married to actor Seth Gabel and together, they share children Beatrice Jean, 11, and Theodore Norman, 15.
While speaking to film critic Peter Travers about Jurassic World in 2015, Bryce revealed a little secret about her (and her siblings’) names: Ron and Cheryl gave each of their children middle names inspired by where they were conceived. In Bryce’s case, the Twilight actress was conceived in the city of Dallas, Texas. “The rule was it’s wherever we were conceived,” Bryce told the film critic, laughing. “It’s so disgusting!” For her twin sisters Paige and Jocelyn, it was the Carlyle hotel in New York City, which brings us to the next set of Howard children…
Paige Howard
Paige — middle name Carlyle — Howard is one half of Ron and Cheryl’s twin daughters. Born in Feb. 1985 in Los Angeles, Paige follows in her famous father and older sister’s footsteps as an actress. The NYC Tisch School Of The Arts alum has appeared in films like Adventureland and The Employer, and TV series like Medium, Arrested Development, stalkTALK, and The Astronauts. Paige is married to Tim Abou-Nasr, an actor and musician. In an Instagram post from May 2020, Paige revealed that their wedding had been postponed in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — but did not seem too bummed about it, writing that she was “grateful” for her then-fiancé.
“Tim and I put a lot of thought and energy into planning our wedding, and although we had to postpone, it made us think — what if we put the same amount of energy into preparing for our marriage as we have our wedding day!” Paige reflected in the caption. “We are so grateful to be quarantined together, to have another year of engagement to look forward to, and most of all- to have so many amazing people in our lives to walk hand in hand with!”
Luckily, their special day happened on May 1, 2022. Alongside a first glimpse Instagram post of their wedding, Paige wrote that it was the “most beautiful day” of her life” and that she and Tim are “on cloud nine!”
Paige has been open about growing up with a famous father in the past and admitted that while the director and producer tried giving them a “normal upbringing”, it was hard to do so. “Some of my earliest memories involved me thinking ‘that’s strange’ whenever there was a crowd of people or a lot of attention coming our way,” she told Fox News in Nov. 2020. “I registered it as, ‘Hmm, this is different.’ But when we were growing up and really young, our parents worked very hard to keep us in a bit of a bubble so we didn’t feel overly exposed to all of that.”
Jocelyn Howard
Jocelyn Carlyle Howard is Paige’s twin sister. Unlike her sister, not much is known about Jocelyn because she does not have a career in Hollywood. Per her IMDb page, she appeared in one episode of Arrested Development in 2018. She has, however, made a few public appearances with her family, including her father’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony in Dec. 2015, as seen in the family snapshot above. The director was awarded his second star to honor his directing career.
Jocelyn does not appear to be on social media like her siblings, but Ron did share a rare snapshot of her alongside Paige on Instagram in Sept. 2019 from a weekend soccer game. “Hanging out with my beautiful wonderful smart kind fraternal twins daughters @paigecarlylehoward and Jocelyn at one of our grandkids soccer game this weekend,” he proudly captioned the post. “They’ve always cracked me up and made me smile. They make me proud, too.”
Reed Howard
Last but not least, Reed Cross Howard is Ron and Cheryl’s only son and youngest child. Born in April 1987 in Los Angeles, Reed is a professional golfer and YouTuber, sharing golf-related videos on his official channel titled Reed Howard Golf. As for his middle name and where he was conceived, Bryce told Peter in her 2015 interview that Cross refers to the street in London where the Howard family used to live. (As she hilariously explained, “That was our road where our house was. My dad would make this joke, ‘I didn’t want to call him back of the Volvo!’ No, stop it!”) Reed and his wife Ashley share one young daughter together, Aspen Leigh.
The golfer’s Instagram is filled with golf and workout content, as well as sweet photos and videos of his daughter Aspen. And Ron is a proud father and grandfather. On Reed’s very first Father’s Day in 2019, the director shared a photo of his son feeding his daughter a bottle of milk and penned a sweet caption. “Happy 1st #FathersDay @reedchoward.” Ron captioned. “Good job, son. I’m a proud #Dad and #Grandad today and every day.”