Bryce Dallas Howard Says One of Her First Brushes with Fame Was with Tom Cruise — and Wondering, ‘Is He Dead?’

Mar. 15, 2025

Bryce Dallas Howard (left), Tom Cruise.Photo:Olivia Wong/FilmMagic; Anthony Ghnassia/Getty

Olivia Wong/FilmMagic; Anthony Ghnassia/Getty

Bryce and Ron spoke about the movie industry during an appearance alongside fellow actor (and Ron’s younger brother)Clint HowardatMegaConin Orlando on Sunday, Feb. 9.

During the panel, Bryce, 43, spoke about how she got to “constantly go to set” with her father while she was growing up.

“My perception of his job and of the quote-unquote industry was the crew. And the actors were certainly part of it,” she said with a laugh.

She continued: “I went to a couple of premieres. I remember – and this is a very, very, very vivid memory where I was like, ‘Oh, fame.’ "

The incident took place in 1992 in Tokyo, Bryce said, when she was 11 years old and was with her dad and the cast ofFar and Awayto do a screening for the royal family.

Tom Cruise in ‘Far and Away’ in 1992.Phillip Caruso/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock

Phillip Caruso/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock

“Tom Cruise is extraordinary when it comes to press and fan engagement and all of that — absolutely tireless,” she noted. “He was walking in front of me, probably 10 feet in front of me on this red carpet. And all the fans were excited and he was waving and he got a little too close and his arm got sucked and then his entire body got sucked in to the crowd.”

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She continued: “And at that point I just knew Tom as the guy who works with my dad and was withNicole [Kidman], they were awesome. He would do backflips on set to entertain us. It was like, he was my dad’s young friend. And seeing him get sucked in there and then everyone kind of diving in after him, I was like, ‘Is he dead?’ It was really crazy.”

Eventually, he was pulled out and he “sort of shook it out and kept going,” Bryce recalled. “And I was like, ‘Is this because people love him?’ It was a really kind of weird moment, but not a bad moment, because Tom was right back at it. It was a very happy energy all around. But I think I saw that and was sort of like, ‘Steer clear.’ "

The moment, Bryce added, made her wary of attending Hollywood events or parties — but not of getting behind the camera.

“I was never asking to go to the parties or premieres,” Bryce said.

“She loved going to set,” her dad Ron, 70, interjected.

“Yeah, I was insatiable,” Bryce added.

Elsewhere in the panel, Ron spoke about how his daughter demonstrated “a real aptitude” for performing when she was just a child — but he worried about her falling into the pattern he experienced with his iconic character onThe Andy Griffith Show, Opie Taylor.

“She would ask about [acting], and my wife Cheryl and I would say, ‘No, we can’t let you be a child actor,’ " Ron said. “We didn’t have the bandwidth to do what my parents did, which is really supervising …And plus I felt like that the Opie mythologywas a little bit tough, you know, too much to ask a kid to face as a child performer.”

source: people.com