Terrence Howard

Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actor. Having appeared in film and on television since the late 1980s, Howard had his first major role in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, which subsequently led to a number of roles in films and high visibility among African-American audiences. Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of well-reviewed television and film roles between 2004 and 2006, among them Ray, Lackawanna Blues, Crash, Four Brothers, Hustle & Flow, Get Rich or Die Tryin', and Idlewild. He is also the grandson of actress Minnie Gentry, who Terrence Howard credits inspired him to begin acting.

Actor, self-taught musician (piano and guitar), and singer Terrence Howard was born March 11, 1969, in Chicago, IL, but grew up in Cleveland, OH, the grandson of New York stage actor Minnie Gentry. Emancipated by the time he was 16, Howard moved to New York City at the age of 18, studying chemical engineering for a time at Pratt Institute. He was discovered on the street by a casting director and soon was taking parts in television shows like Living Single, NYPD Blue, and Soul Food, and he had the lead role in UPN's Sparks. He also appeared in a host of big-screen roles, including parts in Mr. Holland's Opus, The Best Man, Dead Presidents, Idlewild, Iron Man, and Crash, as well as 2005's Hustle & Flow, which saw Howard perform on several of the cuts that went into the soundtrack, including "It's Hard Out There for a Pimp," which went on to win the award for Best Original Song at the 78th annual Academy Awards. Rap really wasn't Howard's main thing musically, though, and his influences, which range from Duke Ellington and Quincy Jones to James Taylor, Curtis Mayfield, and Nina Simone, blended together into what Howard called "urban country" on his debut album, Shine Through It, which was produced by Howard with Miles Mosley and released by Columbia/Sony in 2008. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide