Terrence Howard

Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor and singer. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films Dead Presidents and Mr. Holland's Opus, Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles between 2004 and 2006. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Hustle & Flow. Howard has had prominent roles in many other movies including Winnie, Ray, Lackawanna Blues, Crash,  Four Brothers, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Idlewild, August Rush, The Brave One and Prisoners. Howard played James Rhodes in the first Iron Man and its video game adaptation, but he was replaced by Don Cheadle for the future films. He currently stars as the lead character Lucious Lyon in the television series Empire. His debut album, Shine Through It, was released in September 2008.

Early life
Howard was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 11, 1969, to Tyrone and Anita (née Hawkins) Howard. He is the great-grandson of stage actress Minnie Gentry. Both of Howard's parents were biracial, with African and Anglo ancestry. Howard was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and experienced a rocky childhood, enduring disciplinary beatings from his physically abusive father, and even witnessing his father stabbing another man when he was just 2 years old in the Santa Line Slaying. The killing resulted in his father spending 11 months in jail for manslaughter. Howard's parents divorced upon his father's release. He was then raised by his great-grandmother, who died shortly after Howard appeared in Iron Man as Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Tony Stark/Iron Man's best friend.

Career
Howard first entered the entertainment world when he portrayed Jackie Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream, an ABC miniseries. Three years later, he made his big film break in 1995's Mr. Holland's Opus. He continued being cast in television and movie roles and co-starred as Greg Sparks in the late-1990s short-lived television series Sparks, with James L. Avery, Sr. and Miguel A. Nunez Jr. Howard also appeared in The Best Man in 1999, in Ashanti's music video for her 2002 single "Foolish", and in Mary J. Blige's video for "Be Without You". Howard made an appearance on the TV series Family Matters.

Howard has stated that he looks for characters that "teach him about himself" when choosing his film roles. For the 2005 film Hustle & Flow, Howard portrayed an aspiring rapper, and performed all the tracks character's tracks himself, including "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp", which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 78th Academy Awards. Howard has also worked as a film producer, receiving such a credit for the 2007 film Pride. In 2008, Howard hosted the PBS series Independent Lens.

Howard was contracted to play Colonel Rhodes in the 2008 film Iron Man. Howard was the signed on before any of the other major actors and ended up being the highest paid actor in the film. He was replaced by actor Don Cheadle in the film's sequels; Entertainment Weekly reported that Howard was offered a 50 to 80 percent pay cut for Iron Man 2, though stated it was unclear whether Howard turned down the role or whether Marvel withdrew their offer.

Howard released his debut adult alternative album, Shine Through It, in 2008 on Columbia/SME Records. He described the album as urban country and either wrote or co-wrote all the tracks on it.

In 2008, he made his Broadway debut, playing Brick in an all-African-American production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Debbie Allen. During rehearsals he allegedly attacked and seriously injured musical composer Tex Allen (brother of the director), who said he suffered multiple injuries as a result of being punched multiple times in the head and face. In October 2008, Allen filed a $5 million lawsuit against Howard.

In 2010, Howard joined the cast of the Law & Order: Los Angeles, playing the character Deputy District Attorney Joe Dekker. He alternated shows with Alfred Molina, who portrayed Deputy District Attorney Ricardo Morales. The series was cancelled after one season. In 2011, Howard played Nelson Mandela in the film Winnie Mandela.

Since 2015, Howard has starred on the television series Empire, playing Lucious Lyon, a hip-hop mogul who discovers he is dying and must ensure the survival of his music empire. He also appeared in the television series Wayward Pines portraying Sheriff Arnold Pope, a main character in the first season in 2015 and a guest character in the second and final season.

Personal life
Howard lives outside Philadelphia in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. He has been married four times to three women, and has five children and two grandchildren.

Howard married his first wife, Lori McCommas, in 1994. They had three children together: daughters Aubrey and Heaven, and son Hunter. Through Aubrey, Howard has two grandchildren, a granddaughter born in December 2012 and a grandson (Adrian) born in February 2015. Howard and McCommas divorce filed in 2000 and finalized in 2003, but remarried in 2005. They subsequently filed for divorce a year later and finalized for a second time in 2007. McCommas was born Jewish but was raising their children as Jehovah's Witnesses.

Howard married his second wife, commercial production employee Michelle Ghent. Ghent filed for divorce in February 2011. Ghent filed for a restraining order in December 2011, accusing Howard of being physically abusive toward her. Their divorce was finalized in May 2013.

Howard wed his third wife, model and restaurateur Mira Pak, in late 2013. They have two sons, Qirin Love (born May 7, 2015) and Hero (born July 15, 2016).

Though he did not complete his engineering degree, Howard thinks of himself as an engineer and intends to return one day to complete the "three credits" of which he is currently short. Howard's account of his educational history has not been confirmed; Pratt Institute, which he says he attended, closed its engineering degree program in 1993. On February 26, 2013, Howard said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he had earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from South Carolina State University that year. He was awarded an honorary "Doctorate of Humane Letters" from SCSU after speaking at its commencement ceremony in 2012. However, he never attended the university and in fact the university is not empowered to confer doctorates in chemical engineering.

In 2010, Howard was inducted as an honorary member into Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

Terryology
In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Howard explained that he had formulated his own language of logic, which he called Terryology, and which he was keeping secret until he had patented it. This logic language would be used to prove his contention that "1 x 1 = 2".

""How can it equal one?" he said. "If one times one equals one that means that two is of no value because one times itself has no effect. One times one equals two because the square root of four is two, so what's the square root of two? Should be one, but we're told it's two, and that cannot be.""

Howard blames his leaving Pratt over disagreements with a professor regarding this hypothesis. He also stated that he spends many hours a day constructing models of plastic and wire that he patented and claims to confirm his belief.

In 2017, Howard published his proof of his claim that "1 x 1 = 2" on his Twitter account. It was heavily criticized by his followers, due to containing multiple logical errors and faulty reasoning.

Domestic violence incidents
In February 2009, it was reported on The Smoking Gun that Howard was arrested in 2001 for a variety of charges related to a violent attack on his estranged first wife, including simple assault, terrorist threats, harassment and stalking. According to police reports, he arrived at her house after an argument on the phone, forced entry into her home by breaking in doors, and chased her into the backyard where he punched her twice in the face with a closed fist. The violent attack ended when Howard's brother stepped in. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace.

According to The Smoking Gun, Howard was also arrested for assaulting a Continental Airlines flight attendant after refusing her request to return to his seat because the seat belt sign was on.

On December 5, 2011, a judge granted Howard's then-wife Michelle Ghent a restraining order based on her claims that Howard had caused her physical injuries that required medical attention, once broke her computer in half, repeatedly threatened her, and stalked her by telephone and on the Internet.

In August 2013, Ghent obtained a second restraining order against him after showing up in court with a black eye she says he gave her. Howard initially denied hitting her but, later, admitted in court to a "mutual" physical altercation, which he claimed included being pepper sprayed by Ghent.

In a September 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Howard admitted to hitting his first wife in 2001 saying, "she was talking to me real strong, and I lost my mind and slapped her in front of the kids."

Discography

 * Shine Through It (2008)