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C. Thomas Howell
Born	Christopher Thomas Howell December 7, 1966 (1966-12-07) (age 41) Los Angeles, California, USA

Christopher Thomas Howell (born December 7, 1966 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor. He came to media attention for having a part in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and is best known for having starred in the films The Outsiders and The Hitcher, as well as Soul Man and Red Dawn.

Howell is noted for starring in many "crime thrillers" and for his teenage "pretty boy" features, which was a reason for his many lead roles in the 1980s.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Acting 2.1 Early career 2.2 Further acting 2.3 Television work 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 4.1 Television 5 References 6 External links

Christopher Thomas Howell, nicknamed either "Tommy" or "CT", was born on December 7, 1966 in Van Nuys, California, one of four children of Christopher "Chris" and Candice Howell. He has two sisters, Stacy and Candy, and a brother, John.^[1] His father worked as a stunt coordinator ever since his son was six. As a young boy, Howell wanted to be a stuntman and was even a child stunt player. He began acting at the age of four, when cast in the Brian Keith Show in an episode called "The Little People".

When Howell was young his parents divorced^[2], leaving his mother with both of her sons and daughter Stacy, and his father took little Candy with him^[3]. Howell shared his time with either parent and started his career through his father's job. When he was twelve, he became a rodeo champion at the California Junior Rodeo Association and was named "All-Around Cowboy" in August 1979. While growing up, he also spent time golfing with his grandfather (where his nickname "CT" came because that's how he was recorded on screen boards).

Howell's first showbiz debut was acting in the Brian Keith Show episode "The Little People" as a little boy whose ears are being checked out by a doctor. When he got older, he tried stunt acting like his father and worked on commercials for a while.^[4] His first film appearance was in the 1977 made-for-television movie It Happened One Christmas. Following the movie, he tried rodeo riding for a few years. In 1982 he was originally a child stuntman in Steven Speilberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. That eventually lead to a small role as a bicycle rider near the ending. Afterwards, due to his handsome features, he was cast as the lead role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders, which earned him a Young Artist Award. The cast for this film included two members of the Brat Pack and future Golden Globe winners and nominees as well as Oscar nominees. Since then, it became obvious that he would have a successful career. Following The Outsiders, Howell starred in his own television series Two Marriages. While Two Marriages aired, he became a teen idol, appearing in teen magazines like Teen Beat and 16. The magazines knew him as "Tommy" and "Tom".

After The Outsiders he and his co-star Patrick Swayze reunited for Grandview, U.S.A. and Red Dawn, the first movie to ever be released with a rating of PG-13, in 1984. Before Red Dawn, he appeared in Tank, as the son of James Garner and Shirley Jones. Following Red Dawn, he again starred as the lead role in Secret Admirer, opposite Lori Loughlin and Kelly Preston. Howell was one of two final actors in the running to play Marty McFly in Back to the Future the other being Eric Stoltz, who was eventually selected. Michael J. Fox would go on to replace Stoltz after filming had begun.

In 1986, he and a Grandview, U.S.A. co-star, Jennifer Jason Leigh, reunited as a hitcher's victims in The Hitcher, another of his successful movies. The sequel was released in 2003.Following that, he starred as a white student who pretends to be black in the poorly received but classic Soul Man.

In 2005, he starred as a man who gets separated from his wife and child in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Because of its success, Howell directed and starred in a straight-to-DVD sequel in 2008. After War of the Worlds, he appeared as a doctor in The Poseidon Adventure an adaptation of the 1972 film of the same name. Coincidentally, his father's first stunt coordination was for the original movie^[5], though uncredited.

After filming The Outsiders, Howell starred in his own television series Two Marriages as a rebellious teenager, which ended after four episodes, but letters of support got it back on aire. Howell later expressed disappointment, as he didn't like the series so much,^[6]but later found the show more satisfying.

After Two Marriages, Howell made guest appearances in shows like Moonlighting and The Hitchhiker. In 2000, Howell played a doctor stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash in Amazon. He initially turned down a guest role in ER after missing out on a role he wanted, but his wife signed him up after yet another offer.^[7]After ER, he guest appeared in 24.

In his single days, Howell shared a place with his friend Darren Dalton, whom he costarred with in The Outsiders and Red Dawn and who later appears in his War of the Worlds 2.From July 11, 1986, to 1990, Howell was married to actress Rae Dawn Chong, his Soul Man co-star. He remarried in 1992 to Sylvie Anderson. They have three children, Isabelle (born in 1993), Dashiell (born 1997), and Liam (born 2001). Isabelle appeared as Molly in Hope Ranch,credited as "Isabell Howell", a made for television movie written by Howell and his father, and Dashiell played Howell's son Alex whom he's seperated from in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, as "Dash Howell". The family currently resides in Manhattan Beach, California.

In 2008, Howell was a contestant in the reality game show "Celebracadabra" opposite other major celebrities such as Hal Sparks, Carnie Wilson, and his War of the Worlds 2 costar Christopher "Kid" Reid. Celebrities would perform magic tricks practiced by experienced coaches. It began on April 27 and ended on June 12, in which Howell won and was named "Greatest Magician".

Year	Movie	Role	Other notes
1977	It Happened One Christmas	Unknown	Made for television movie
1982	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	Tyler	Credited as Tom Howell
1983	The Outsiders	Ponyboy Michael Curtis	Young Artist Award; first film with Patrick Swayze
1984	Grandview, U.S.A.	Tim Pearson	Second film with Swayze
1984	Tank	William "Billy" Carey
1984	Red Dawn	Robert Morris	Third film with Swayze
1985	Secret Admirer	Michael Ryan
1986	The Hitcher	Jim Halsey
1986	Soul Man	Mark Watson	Met and married Rae Dawn Chong
1987	Into the Homeland	Tripp Winston	Made for television movie
1988	A Tiger's Tale	Bubber Drums
1988	Giovane Toscanini II	Arturo Toscanini	Also known as "Young Toscanini"
1989	The Return of the Musketeers	Raoul
1990	Far Out Man	Himself
1990	Side Out	Monoroe Clark
1990	Curiosity Kills	Cat Thomas
1990	Kid	Kid
1992	Tattle Tale	Bernard Sprat	Made for television movie
1992	Nickle & Dime	Jack Stone
1992	To Protect and Serve	Egan
1992	Breaking the Rules	Gene Michaels
1992	That Night	Rick
1993	Gettysburg	Thomas Chamberlain
1994	Jailbait	Sgt. Lee Teffler
1994	Dangerous Indiscretion	Jim Lomax
1994	Treacherous	Micky Stewert
1994	Natural Selection	Ben Braden/Alex Connelly
1995	Payback	Oscar Bonsetter
1995	Baby Face Nelson	Baby Face Nelson
1995	Hourglass	Michael Jardine
1997	Dead Fire	Tucker
1997	Sleeping Dogs	Sanchez Boon
1999	Red Team	J.B. Gaines	Also known as The Crimson Code
1999	Hot Boyz	Roberts
2000	The Million Dollar Kid	Valentino
2001	Burning Down the House	Unknown
2001	Willfull	Nat Wolff
2001	Asylum Days	Nathan Devine
2003	Net Games	Adam Vance
2003	Gods and Generals	Thomas Chamberlain
2003	The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting	Jim Halsey
2004	The Hillside Strangler	Kenneth Bianchi
2004	A Killer Within	Addison Terrill
2005	Hoboken Hollow	Clayton Connelly
2005	Crimson Force	Captain Baskin	Made for television movie
2005	Glass Trap	Curtis
2005	Nursie	Zack
2005	H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds	George Herbert
2005	The Poseidon Adventure	Doctor Ballard	Made for television movie
2005	Ordinary Miracles	Jim Powell	Made for television movie
2006	The Da Vinci Treasure	Michael Archer
2006	The Far Side of Jericho	Little Jimmy Thorton
2007	Toxic	Joe
2007	The Haunting of Marsten Manor	Captain Williams
2007	Fighting Words	David Settles
2008	House of Fallen	Thomas
2008	Big Game	Sully
2008	Razor	Virgil
2008	Fuel	Shane
2008	War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave	George Herbert
2008	A Gunfighter's Pledge	Horn	Made for television movie

• Two Marriages
• Moonlighting
• Nightmare Classics
• The Hitchhiker
• Kindred: The Embraced
• The Outer Limits
• V.I.P
• The Love Boat: The Next Wave
• Dead Man's Gun
• Amazon
• Twice in a Lifetime
• Son of the Beach
• The District
• Summerland
• ER
• 24
• Smith

• Official Website
• C. Thomas Howell at the Internet Movie Database