Christopher Thomas Howell (born December 7, 1966 in Los Angeles, California, U.S.) is an American actor. He appeared in a minor role (credited as Tom Howell) in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). He also starred as the lead in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis, and in the 1990 feature film Side Out. However, he is perhaps best known for his lead role in the 1986 film Soul Man in which his character diguises himself as a black man in order to get into Harvard University on a scholorship.
His acting career began in television at the age of four, when he was a regular on the TV series Little People; he went on to appear on other series: Two Marriages and Into the Homeland, as well as co-starring in "Kindred: The Embraced".
He has produced Hope Ranch (2002) and To Protect and Serve (1992). Today, he is remarried to wife Sylvie Anderson and has three kids: Isabelle, Dashiell, and Liam.
In 2006 he guest starred in two episodes of the FOX drama 24's fifth season as Barry Landes, the boyfriend and doctor of Kim Bauer, played by Elisha Cuthbert.
He hosted a Hollywood insider radio show in Los Angeles, Sunday nights, 7pm to 9pm Pacific Time on 97.1 FREE FM with comic Kirk Fox until June of 2007.



Trivia

• He was married to actress Rae Dawn Chong, with whom he co-starred in Soul Man (1986). They divorced in 1990.
• Tacoma-based hardcore band Botch recorded a song called "C. Thomas Howell as the 'Soul Man'" which is part of their 1999 album We are the Romans.
• Howell was one of two final actors in the running to play Marty McFly in the 1985 film Back to the Future, the other being Eric Stoltz who was eventually selected. Michael J. Fox would go on to replace Stoltz in the role after filming had begun.[1]

Selected filmography

• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• The Outsiders (1983)
• Grandview, U.S.A. (1984)
• Tank (1984)
• Red Dawn (1984)
• Secret Admirer (1985)
• The Hitcher (1986)
• Soul Man (1986)
• A Tiger's Tale (1988)
• The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
• Far Out Man (1990)
• Side Out (1990)
• Curiosity Kills (1990)
• Gettysburg (1993)
• Jailbait (1994)
• Payback (1995)
• Baby Face Nelson (1995)
• Dead Fire (1997)
• Sleeping Dogs (1997)
• Red Team (also known as The Crimson Code) (1999)
• Hot Boyz (1999)
• The Million Dollar Kid (2000)
• Burning Down the House (2001)
• Willfull (2001)
• Asylum Days (2001)
• Net Games (2003)
• Gods and Generals (2003)
• The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting (2003)
• Fighting Words (film) (2003)
• The Hillside Strangler (2004)
• Hidalgo (2004)
• ER "The Human Shield" (2004)
• A Killer Within (2004)
• Glass Trap (2004)
• H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds (2005)
• The Poseidon Adventure. (A made for T.V. movie on N.B.C.(2005))
• Ordinary Miracles (T.V. movie 2005)
• Crimson Force (T.V. movie 2005)
• Hoboken Hallow (direct-to-DVD) (2007)