Christopher Thomas Howell (born December 7, 1966)[1] is an American actor and director. After making his film debut with a supporting role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Howell had his breakout with a lead role as Ponyboy Curtis in the coming-of-age film The Outsiders (1983).
Following his breakout, Howell had starring roles in the films Tank (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Red Dawn (1984), Secret Admirer (1985), and The Hitcher (1986). His lead role in the commercially successful yet controversial film Soul Man (1986) damaged his status as a leading man in Hollywood.
In the 1990s, Howell starred in the films Side Out (1990), That Night (1992), and Gettysburg (1993), and had main roles as Detective Frank Kohanek on the Fox horror television series Kindred: The Embraced (1996) and Dr. Alex Kennedy on the syndicated series Amazon (1999–2000). He portrayed Baby Face Nelson in the biographical film Baby Face Nelson (1995). In the 2000s, Howell starred in the film Gods and Generals (2003) and had a recurring, later main, role as Bill "Dewey" Dudek on the NBC and TNT crime drama series Southland (2009–2013). He had a supporting role in the film Hidalgo (2004).
Howell was born in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles to Christopher N. and Candice Howell. He has three siblings.[2]
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.[3]
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. 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.[17][bettersourceneeded]
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 Boston Strangler.[citation needed] 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.[25][26]
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 the 1980s, Howell dated actress Kyle Richards.[29] In 1989, he married actress Rae Dawn Chong, whom he met while co-starring with her in the 1986 film Soul Man.[20] They divorced the following year.[30] Howell married his second wife, Sylvie Anderson, in 1992, and the couple had three children.[31] Anderson filed for divorce in 2016.[31]
In November 2001, Howell was acquitted of five misdemeanor charges, including hit and run and brandishing a weapon arising out of a confrontation with a skateboarder in Southern California.[32]
1 2 3 4 5 "C. Thomas Howell (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved December 6, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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