Born Christopher Thomas Howell on December 7, 1966 in Los Angeles, California, C. Thomas Howell is primarily an actor, but he also dabbles in writing, directing, producing, as well as hosting in radio and television. He was married twice, first to actress Rae Dawn Chong in 1986, then in 1992 to Sylvie Anderson, with whom he has three children.
As early as four, he appeared on his first television show called Little People. It was followed by Two Marriages and, in 1977, he made his film debut in It Happened One Christmas. Five years later in 1982, he was cast in a small but memorable role in Steven Spielberg's E.T The Extra-Terrestrial. He also landed the lead in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders and it earned him a Young Artist Award.
Howell went on to have several more movies added to his filmography, among them Grandview, USA, Red Dawn, Tank, Secret Admirer, The Hitcher, Soul Man, and was one of the final actors being considered to play the lead in Back to the Future, a role which eventually went to Michael J. Fox. In 2005, he starred in the straight-to-DVD version of War of the Worlds, with Tom Cruise starring in the theatrical release version. He also starred in the remake of the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure. His most recent screen credits include a recurring rule in the hit series 24, as well as a guest starring role in ER.
Howell is a contestant in the VH1 reality series Celebracadabra, where celebrities are taught different forms of magic by veteran magicians. Each week, the celebrities are judged and one gets eliminated, en route to a grade prize of $100,000. Howell was eliminated on the sixth episode.