Bryce Dallas Howard said her dad Ron Howard wouldn’t let her act as a child

Bryce Dallas Howard and Ron Howard in 2020. (Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Bryce Dallas Howard’s dad, director and actor Ron Howard, didn’t want her to get her big Hollywood break as a child.

While she became widely known after M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village” in 2004, the actress said her parents had strict rules against working as a child actor.

“My parents were very firm on that boundary, that they were not going to support anyone who wanted to be a child actor,” she told People.

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Her father, who as a kid played Opie Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show” from 1960 to 1966 and later starred in “Happy Days,” explained their thinking.

“It’s possible for child performers to really find a lot that is positive within it, but it’s fraught with landmines,” he said. “On top of everything else, because the characters that I played as a child were so well-known as to almost be iconic, I also thought, ‘Hey, if one of our kids tries to act as a child, boy or girl, they’re going to be unfairly compared.’”

Bryce Howard said she is happy with their decision.

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“I’m really glad that they did that because when I did start acting, it took a while to make a living. To be able to be like, ‘Oh, okay. I can actually support myself with this,’” she said.