Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard exploded onto the Hollywood scene in 2005 after delivering powerful performances in a number of film and TV productions. Howard has garnered multiple nominations including Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, as well as awards for Breakthrough Actor by the National Board of Review, Movieline and the Gotham Awards. Crowned as the “Indie Film King” by Entertainment Weekly, he has also received the Rising Star Award from the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Renaissance Artist Award from the Diversity Awards and the Career Achievement Award from the Chicago International Film Festival.

For his leading role in John Singleton’s Hustle & Flow, Terrence received nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, an Image Award and an Independent Spirit Award and won the Satellite Award for Best Actor. The song, which he performs in the film, received a Critics Choice Award and became the first rap song ever to receive an Academy Award. The cast also received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Ensemble.

For the Oscar winning Best Picture Crash, Terrence and the all-star cast including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Thandie Newton and Matt Dillon received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble, was nominated for a Gotham Award and swept up an Oscar at the 2006 Academy Awards for Best Picture.

Keeping a powerful presence on the small screen as well, Howard was seen in the HBO film Lackawanna Blues directed by George C. Wolfe and based on Tony Award-winning Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s autobiographical play. The cast, which includes Jeffrey Wright and S. Epatha Merkerson, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. In 2006, Howard took on a new role as host of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series, Independent Lens, a showcase for independent filmmakers that introduced a new drama or documentary every episode.

Terrence’s love for acting came naturally, through summers spent with his grandmother, New York stage actress Minnie Gentry. He later began his acting career on The Cosby Show after being discovered on a New York City street by a casting director. The chance encounter helped Howard break into feature films and soon he was cast in such films as Mr. Holland’s Opus.

Howard’s memorable performances are of scene-stealing characters such as ‘Cowboy’ in the Hughes brothers’ film Dead Presidents and as ‘Quentin’ in Malcolm D. Lee’s film The Best Man. The latter earning him a NAACP Image Award, Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Chicago Film Critics Award nomination.

Other film credits include Pride opposite Bernie Mac, where he plays swim coach Jim Ellis who starts a swim team for troubled teens at the Philadelphia Department of Recreation; John Singleton’s crime drama Angel Eyes; Harts War; Four Brothers; Idlewild and Jim Sheridan’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’.

Terrence was recently seen in Paramount’s Iron Man opposite Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges, which is based off of the famed comic-book series. Prior to Iron Man, Howard’s other recent films include Warner Brother’s thriller The Brave One with Jodie Foster, The Hunting Party with Richard Gere, August Rush with Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers and The Weinstein Company’s Awake with Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen. He will next appear in the production of Dito Montiel’s Fighting with Channing Tatum.

Earlier in 2008, Howard made his stage debut in the Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring opposite Phylicia Rashad, James Earl Jones and Anika Noni Rose, directed by Debbie Allen.

A self-taught musician Howard plays both the piano and the guitar. His musical talents were first seen on the big screen opposite Jamie Foxx in 2004’s Ray for which they both earned a SAG nomination. A promising songwriter, Howard’s lyrics are soon to be acquired by some of today’s biggest artists. He recently joined some of the industry’s top musicians at the famed Sony Columbia music label and will be releasing his original debut album in September 2008.

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