These days, Ron Howard is a powerhouse of a director with two Academy Awards, four Emmys, two Golden Globes and a slate of movies that have been box office hits and critical darlings. It seems like he was always destined for success.

However, in the early days of his career, people were doubtful of a child star stepping behind the camera. Actors directing is nothing new, but an actor becoming a critically-acclaimed, Oscar-winning director is much less common.

"I don't know that it was actively frowned upon, but people were skeptical about that being my dream," Ron Howard said on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast in 2022. "It was like I was from anywhere in the country wearing that T-shirt, 'what I really want to do is direct.' Actors would direct once in awhile... but they wouldn't commit themselves to it. And they didn't come from TV sitcoms, and they certainly hadn't been child actors who then make this their career."

Since going into directing, Howard has appeared onscreen now and again, but mostly in small cameo roles that he doesn't really consider "acting." "I've only ever just played myself," Howard said. "I had to play myself in a couple episodes of Arrested Development. I was grateful that virtually all my scenes were with Jason Bateman, and he's such a cool customer, so hitting on all cylinders as an artist and a talent made it easy for me to make that mini-comeback."

Howard said that he wasn't opposed to acting, but his directing career and running the production company that he co-founded, Imagine Entertainment, keeps him busy.

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What would convince him to take on a "real" role where he wasn't playing himself? "It would probably be Bryce [Dallas Howard]," Howard said. Bryce, Ron Howard's daughter, has made her own respectable career, collecting accolades for her work on movies like The Help, Jurassic World, The Village and Rocketman. Recently, she's been dabbling in directing herself, mostly in the Star Wars franchise projects like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

"It would probably be Bryce directing something and saying 'Dad, I really need you to come in and do this,'" Howard said. "[That would] get me in the makeup chair and in front of the camera."

It wouldn't be just any role, though. "She's very astute and meticulous, so unless I'm right for something, it ain't happening. I'm sure there would be an audition. I would be a little disappointed if she didn't."

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