The times of their lives: starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Andreas Wilson, and Wentworth Miller in pictures by Bruce Weber

24 BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD BY DEBORAH TREISMAN

SHE'S THE THIRD GENERATION IN A HOLLYWOOD DYNASTY, AND THE CHARISMA KEEPS COMING. BUT NO ONE CAN ACCUSE BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD OF WAITING AROUND FOR THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM. INSTEAD, SHE'S BLAZING A TRAIL ALL HER OWN.

Bryce Dallas Howard, who studied acting at New York University and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, won her first movie role--in M. Night Shyamalan's The Village--after the director caught her performance as Rosalind in As You Like It at New York's Public Theater. She went on to take over Nicole Kidman's starring role in Lars von Trier's sequel to Dogville (2003), Manderlay, which will be released this year. The 23-year-old actress is currently preparing for the title role in a film about Mary, Queen of Scots.

DEBORAH TREISMAN: The first thing anyone ever seems to mention about you is that your father is Ron Howard. Is that a stumbling block for you, that people overlook the rest of your life in favor of this one important connection?

BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD: Oh, no, no, no. It doesn't disappoint or frustrate me in any way because it is a huge representation of who I am and where I come from. He's a massive figure in my life and apparently a massive figure in the history of television and cinema. I really respect what he's done, so I don't want to degrade that in any way by demeaning him in interviews and saying, "Oh, I only want to talk about my own very short career."

DT: [laughs] Of course not. It's interesting to me that you chose to go into the same field as your father. I'm wondering if you rebelled against your parents at all while you were growing up.

BDH: My parents never encouraged one specific profession or interest, so I couldn't really rebel against them in that way. As a child you always want to pinpoint the things that give your parents anxiety; but when nothing gives them anxiety, and they're just kind of excited that you're alive, it's frustrating. The work I'm interested in tends to be somewhat controversial, and I think that's where my career might take a different path from my father's. But they're very open-minded people, so it's been difficult to find something that would anger them.

DT: No teenage shenanigans? Nothing?

BDH: No, honestly, there weren't. I was very strict with myself in many ways. I never drank, and I never went out, ever. I didn't have a boyfriend until I was 18 years old, so they didn't have to worry about that.

DT: What made you want to put those restrictions on yourself?

BDH: I don't know. It's funny because Lars von Trier has asked me that very same thing many times. We're similar in that we both sort of punish ourselves in many ways. When he was growing up, his parents were very unrestricting. They didn't have rules, and so he had to set his own rules and boundaries. Now, my parents were very strict, but not with ideas. They really wanted us to form our own ideas about the world, and I think that's why I am so aggressive about educating myself and becoming the best form of myself that I can.

DT: As a kid you appeared in some of your father's movies, right?

BDH: I was just an extra. My dad is superstitious, and he got this notion that he had to have all his family members appear in his movies. But most of the time we would be on the outskirts with all the PAs and the craft service and people doing the manual labor.

DT: So, you grew up wanting to be a caterer?

BDH: [laughs] To me, those were the people who really made moviemaking possible, and they all had such a tremendous work ethic. They believed in what my dad was doing and what the actors were doing, and that belief was infectious. That's what I love about movies--that there's this group of people who believe so much that they can do this thing that is practically impossible!

DT: When was your eureka moment? When did you say "Okay, I am gonna try to be an actor"?

BDH: I don't know. I was always really timid about all of it because I knew that it would be hard. One thing my parents instilled in me was that if I wanted to be an actor, I was not to be mistaken about how hard it was going to be, and simultaneously how fulfilling it could be.

DT: Is there an actor you really identify with or aspire to be like?

BDH: Well, it's difficult because I try not to idolize actors because then I put a separation between myself and them, and I don't want to do that. I look at what Meryl Streep does, and I'm like, "Where did she begin, how did she do that, how could she do that?" And then I just start to feel frustration and anxiety and ultimately depression because I can't do that. But if I start to idolize her or put her on a pedestal, then I completely cancel out the possibility that one day I might be able to have some insight into her work. The moment I admire someone too much I start to think I'll never get close, and then I stop trying. My only wish for myself is that I always keep trying; I don't have to ever get there. I have to be honest--I'm never going to get to the same level that Care Blanchett or Nicole Kidman or Meryl Streep are. But I have to think somewhere in the back of my head that if I keep trying, one day it might be possible, because then I'll be able to push myself further.