Bryce Dallas Howard

Bryce Dallas Howard began her acting career in New York City theater productions, appearing in House & Garden at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2002 and Tartuffe at the American Airlines Theatre. In 2003, she portrayed Rosalind in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It at The Public Theater. She reprised the role in Kenneth Branagh’s 2006 film adaptation of the play, which premiered theatrically in Europe before its HBO debut in the United States. Howard received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film for her performance.

Howard made her feature film debut in M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy thriller The Village (2004), playing Ivy, the blind daughter of a village chief. She subsequently starred as Grace Mulligan in Lars von Trier’s Manderlay (2005), the sequel to Dogville (2003), replacing Nicole Kidman in the role. Howard reunited with Shyamalan for the fantasy drama Lady in the Water (2006), portraying Story, a mysterious being discovered in a swimming pool. In 2006, she also wrote and directed Orchids, a short film produced for Glamour magazine’s Reel Moments series.

In 2007, Howard portrayed Gwen Stacy in Sam Raimi’s superhero film Spider-Man 3. She later starred as Kate Connor in the science fiction action film Terminator Salvation (2009), replacing Claire Danes in the role. That same year, she appeared as a debutante in The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, an independent drama based on a 1957 screenplay by Tennessee Williams. In 2010, she joined the cast of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse as Victoria Sutherland, a revenge-seeking vampire, and appeared in Clint Eastwood’s drama Hereafter.

In 2011, Howard played Hilly Holbrook in Tate Taylor’s film adaptation of The Help, earning a Critics’ Choice Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award alongside the ensemble cast. She also co-produced Gus Van Sant’s coming-of-age drama Restless and appeared in the cancer comedy-drama 50/50. That year, she directed When You Find Me, a short film developed in collaboration with Canon.

Howard starred as Claire Dearing, an operations manager at a dinosaur theme park, in Jurassic World (2015). She followed the film with roles in the fantasy adventure Pete’s Dragon (2016) and the crime drama Gold (2016). Also in 2016, she portrayed Lacie in “Nosedive,” an episode of the Netflix anthology series Black Mirror, earning a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her performance.

In 2018, Howard reprised her role as Claire Dearing in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The following year, she voiced Bella in the family drama A Dog’s Way Home and portrayed Sheila Dwight, Elton John’s mother, in the musical biopic Rocketman. She also made her feature documentary directorial debut with Dads (2019), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Howard expanded her directing career into television with three episodes of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, released between 2019 and 2023. She also directed an episode of the Disney+ miniseries The Book of Boba Fett, which premiered in 2022. That year, she returned as Claire Dearing for Jurassic World Dominion, the concluding installment in the Jurassic World trilogy.

In 2024, Howard starred in the action comedy Argylle, directed by Matthew Vaughn. She also directed the sixth episode of the Disney+ science fiction series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and is set to direct two episodes of the second season of Star Wars: Ahsoka.

In 2025, Howard directed her second documentary film, Pets, released on National Pets Day. That year, she also starred in the Amazon Prime Video comedy film Deep Cover.