A star emerges: Terrence Howard is finally in the spotlight

There are movies being made in Hollywood that do not have Terrence Howard’s name attached to them.

We can’t think of any right now, but they must exist.

The 38-year-old actor’s cool, laid-back demeanor is betrayed by a loud, hearty laugh when it is suggested that he is up for every leading role in town.

“I don’t think it’s every movie,” he says with a shrug, “but I’m not apologizing for all the movies I am doing. I’m planning to work in as many movies as I can right now because I learned my lesson.”

The hard lesson learned came upon the release in 2002 of the World War II drama “Hart’s War.” It starred Bruce Willis and received generally good notices. Industry types who saw advance screenings thought the film would make Howard a star.

“A lot of people, Gregory Hoblit included (the film’s director), told me not to accept any other roles until the film came out. They said I would be set for life, and that I should wait for all the great roles that would be coming my way.”

The movie bombed.

Howard, who had taken the well-intended advice to heart and rejected job offers for almost a year before the opening of “Hart’s War,” said it took him more than two years for his career to recover.

But it recovered in a hurry after his Oscar nomination for “Hustle & Flow,” and a critically lauded performance in “Crash,” which won the Best Picture Oscar.

After two decades of doing solid, but largely unnoticed work as a journeyman actor, Howard was suddenly an in-demand star.

In fact, he has close to a dozen movies in various stages of development, including starring roles in biographical films based on the lives of country singer Charlie Pride and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and is the name above the title in “Pride,” which opens Friday.

Loosely based on the life of Jim Ellis, who has run a competitive swimming program for black youths in Philadelphia for more than 30 years, “Pride” is an inspirational sports story with a twist.

“There have been a million inspirational movies made about football, and a million inspirational movies made about hockey,” Howard said. “But I believe that this is the first one about swimming.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do it; because it’s never been done before. But I also think it’s an important movie because it’s about encouragement. There is so much discouragement in the world today that I think young people need to see another side.”

The real Jim Ellis, who sheepishly admits that his first choice to play him in the movie was Denzel Washington, said he became a big Terrence Howard fan after studio executives informed him of their choice.

“I really didn’t want to see `Hustle & Flow’ because I thought it was just another pimp and drug movie coming out of Hollywood,” the 59-year-old coach said during a recent promotional swing through Southern California. “But I thought I better find out who this Terrence Howard guy was if he was going to play me.

“By the time I finished the movie, I was both exhausted and excited. This guy could really act. And he was just handsome enough to play me,” he added with a smile.

South African-born director Sunu Gonera pushed the studio for Howard for months before the actor was offered the role. The director said he imagined Howard in this role from the start, but couldn’t explain why at the time. Once filming began, he understood why.

“I loved standing behind the camera and watching Terrence work,” the director said. “Everything he does is so authentic. It’s frightening that someone can be so talented.”

Gonera said Howard reminds him of a young Marlon Brando or Jack Nicholson.

“They’re both movie stars, but not in the conventional sense. They have the looks of a movie star, but the edginess of a character actor. Terrence is a lot like that. There is an edge and an element of danger in him. He’s already a movie star, but he’s going to surprise a lot of people in the next few years.”

Howard, who lives outside Philadelphia, comes by his edginess naturally.

Born in Chicago and raised in Cleveland, as a toddler he witnessed his father stab another man in self-defense. His father served 11 months in prison on a manslaughter charge.

At 16, Howard legally declared his independence, and two years later moved to New York City to pursue his acting dreams, no doubt inspired by spending summers with his grandmother, stage actress Minnie Gentry.

“My father always said that if you want oranges, you have to go to where the oranges grow,” Howard said. “I wanted to act. The place to act was in New York.”

Armed only with a remarkable gift of gab, he said he literally talked his way into Pratt Institute in New York and studied chemical engineering for two years.

“I had a low grade point average in high school, but I was always studying math and reading science books,” he explained. “I told the school that my transcripts and SAT scores were on the way, and I convinced them to give me a special entrance exam. Apparently, I did real well on the test because they let me start school. Then I talked the scholarship people into giving me the money to attend the school.

“I had to apply for welfare to prove I was local to qualify for the scholarship, but I didn’t mind because I had been on welfare since I was 16 anyway.”

That kind of challenging background and fierce determination to succeed has served him well in his career. He says it gives him an edge on the competition.

“While other kids were in acting school, I was collecting a reservoir of life experiences so I understand the underlying motivations behind the acting. That’s not something you can learn in class. You have to live it.”

Howard didn’t finish college because he got interrupted by fate. Although the show business legend is that a casting director for “The Cosby Show” discovered him on the street and offered him a role on the show, Howard said it was his brother who was discovered.

His brother told him about the audition, and he tagged along, winning the role himself.

Howard, who has three children but is separated from his wife, worked steadily in television until he made the transition to the big screen in the 1995 film “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”

A string of small but meaty film roles followed - “Dead Presidents,” “The Best Man,” “Four Brothers” and “Ray” - before his breakthrough performances in “Hustle & Flow” and “Crash.”

Now, he has his pick of starring roles.

“I always wanted to be rich and famous, but it was for all of the wrong reasons,” he said. “I think I wanted it mainly to sleep with as many women as I could.

“But, coming so late, I can appreciate the success so much more. It’s important that I don’t waste this opportunity.”

The actor said he’s “having a ball” with his newfound success, but speaks sadly of the loss of privacy that accompanies it.

“I never wanted to be a celebrity, but it seems I have no choice. You lose your personal life. Your name no longer belongs to you. You become a commodity.

“But, with the loss of anonymity comes a gain in audience,” he added. “You suddenly make a lot more money (he made only $12,000 for his Oscar-nominated role in “Hustle & Flow”) so you can take care of your family. At the same time, you’re working so much, you don’t have enough time to spend with your family.”

If Howard sounds conflicted, he’s not. He said he knows exactly what he wants from his success.

“It’s about finding a balance,” he said. “I want the bigger paychecks and the greater responsibilities. When you are the star of the movie and make more money, you are expected to bring in more money for the people who paid you. I am ready for that responsibility.

“But I also need to make sure that I keep a part of myself private. It’s so easy to pimp yourself in this business. That’s the saddest part of this business, and I was starting to fall victim to that.

“My mom was in the hospital recently, and I couldn’t see her because I had all these important dinner parties lined up with people like Armani and Cadillac to discuss endorsement deals. I canceled all of the dinners when I realized that the only person who needed my smile and my energy at that moment was my mother.

“What’s the point of being successful if you’re too busy for your mother?”