
Christopher Thomas Howell (born December 7, 1966), usually credited as C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitcher as Jim Halsey. He has appeared in Soul Man, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Gettysburg, H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stopped and Gods and Generals. Howell was born in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles to Christopher N. and Candice Howell. He has three siblings. 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. When Howell was young, his parents divorced. Howell graduated from Saugus High School in 1984. In 1982, Howell made his film debut as Tyler in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. At the age of 15 in 1981, Howell was cast in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders (1983). Howell played the lead role of Ponyboy Curtis, "the soulful tagalong greaser through whose eyes we see the events of the 1960s-set film unfold." Based on S.E. Hinton's bestselling 1967 novel of the same name,the coming-of-age film went on to become a cult classic. Howell's portrayal of Ponyboy was his breakthrough role, and it earned him a Young Artist Award. 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 (1984). 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. Howell was one of two final actors in the running for the lead role of Marty McFly in Back to the Future (1985); the other was Eric Stoltz. Ultimately, Michael J. Fox was cast as Marty after Stoltz was deemed wrong for the part. In 1986, Howell was a hitchhiker's target in the film The Hitcher. He also starred in the sequel, which was released in 2003. In 1986, Howell starred in Soul Man, a film in which Howell appears in Blackface. Rounding out the 1980s , Howell played the young Arturo Toscanini in Franco Zeffirelli's 1988 film Young Toscanini.

as Stanley Dixon

as Stanley Dixon

as Nathan

as Caspar Weinberger

as John Hawkins

as Mr. Sapp

as Ed Cameron

as Frank

as Peter

as Dr. Eric Peselowe

as Breen Nash

as Captain Miles Browning

as Control (voice)

as Self

as Jim Craft

as Narrator

as Carter

as Ted

as Blake

as The Stranger

as Jenkins

as Zoom (voice)

as Walter Jenkins

as John Danielson

as Robert Crawford

as Kaine

as Ben Wilkins

as Nathan Shapiro

as Officer Roberts

as Ryan

as Tom Worthy

as Jack Carter

as George 'Shorty' White

as Detective Riggers

as Silent Cal

as Sheriff Quentin

as Dr. Will Magnus (voice)

as Keith

as Jack

as Jack Carter

as Tony

as Rad

as Charlie DuPuis

as Zeke

as Rex Everhart

as Mitch Fielding

as Self / Detective Frank Kohanek

as Delbert Furgeson

as Professor Zoom / Thawne (voice)

as Jack

as Nathan Detrick

as Double

as Patrick Cole

as Self

as Ray

as Jack's Father

as Russ

as Paul Jordan

as John Youngstown

as Jake

as Sheriff Beaumont

as Chief Grasso

as Professor Grimes

as Alumnus Guy #2

as Luke

as Frost Michaels

as Seth Delray

as Josh Myron

as Horn

as Sully

as LIttle Joe

as Thomas

as George Herbert

as Stone

as Jed

as Captain Williams

as K.C. Corcoran

as David Settles

as Michael Archer

as Clayton Connelly

as Doctor Ballard

as Curtis

as George Herbert

as Coach Fielding

as Capt. Baskin

as Kuratha

as Jim Powell

as Kenneth Bianchi

as Addison Terrill

as Hedion

as Zack

as Preston Webb

as Jim Halsey

as Sgt. Thomas Chamberlain

as Adam Vance

as Sheriff Lyndon Harris

as Nat Wolff

as Sheriff Wade Messer

as Joss Mckinley

as Nathan Devine

as Geoffrey Liddy

as Tom Milton

as Concierge

as Dean Riley

as Valentino

as Officer Roberts

as Dean

as Tom Holly

as Jack

as Lanois

as Malcolm 'Mack' Maddox

as J.B. Gaines

as Dakota

as John Reed

as Evan

as Michael D'Angelo

as Boris Dakota

as Detective Mick Cullen

as Aaron

as Blaise Rybeck

as Sanchez Boon

as Tucker

as Evan Marino

as Michael Jardine

as Thomas 'Quin' Quinlan

as Johnie Dean

as Mark Goddard

as Baby Face Nelson

as Mike

as Jim Lomax

as Oscar Bonsetter

as Dan Jericho

as Carl

as Ben Braden / Alex Connelly

as Sergeant Lee Teffler

as Lieut. Thomas D. Chamberlain

as Micky Stewert

as Bernard Sprat

as Paul Stevens

as Egan

as Gene Michaels

as Rick

as Jack Stone

as Kid

as Cat Thomas

as C. Thomas Howell

as Monroe Clark

as Jenner Brading

as Raoul

as Arturo Toscanini

as Bubber Drumm

as Tripp Wilson

as Mark Watson

as Jim Halsey

as Michael Ryan

as Robert

as Tim Pearson

as Billy

as Ponyboy Curtis

as Tyler