Peter Howitt
Peter Howitt (born 5 May 1957) is a British actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer.[1] Howitt grew up in Eltham, London, and Bromley, Kent. He began his career in television, appearing in the educational series How We Used to Live (1984–1985) before gaining prominence as Joey Boswell in the BBC sitcom Bread (1986–1991).[1] His transition to film directing came with Sliding Doors (1998), a romantic comedy-drama starring Gwyneth Paltrow, for which he also wrote the screenplay and had a supporting role.[2] Subsequent directorial credits include Antitrust (2001), Johnny English (2003), Laws of Attraction (2004), and Dangerous Parking (2007), the latter of which he also wrote, produced, and starred in.[1]Biography
Early life and education
Peter Howitt was born on May 31, 1946, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.[3] He grew up in the Exhibition Park neighbourhood and had a happy childhood.[4] Howitt attended Victory Public School and Guelph Collegiate and Vocational Institute (Guelph CVI).[4] His interest in economics began during his teenage years when he worked for a wool importer in Guelph, which sold wool to manufacturers for clothing production.[5] Howitt earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from McGill University in 1968, a Master of Arts in economics from the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) in 1969, and a PhD in economics from Northwestern University in 1973.[3]Personal life
Howitt is married and has children who live across North America.[6] As of 2025, he resides in Hendersonville, North Carolina, where he is enjoying retirement.[4][7]Career
Howitt's early academic career at the University of Western Ontario (1972–1996) included advancing to full professor and serving as president of the Canadian Economics Association from 1993 to 1994. He held visiting positions at the University of Paris, the London School of Economics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Toulouse, where he developed his expertise in macroeconomic dynamics and monetary policy.[8] From 1996 to 2000, Howitt was a professor of economics at Ohio State University. In 2000, he joined Brown University as the Lyn Crost Professor of Social Sciences, a position he held until 2023, after which he became professor emeritus while continuing to teach in the graduate program. He has also served as an honorary professor at Western University since 2015.[9][8] Howitt's research has profoundly influenced growth theory, extending beyond his foundational work with Philippe Aghion on Schumpeterian models of creative destruction. Their 1992 paper, "A Model of Growth Through Creative Destruction," has been cited over 17,000 times and integrates firm competition, R&D, and innovation-driven productivity. In 2009, they co-authored The Economics of Growth, a comprehensive textbook synthesizing these frameworks. His broader contributions encompass monetary economics, business cycles, and the policy effects of technological change, with over 40 publications since joining Brown, often co-authored with graduate students.[10][8][9] Howitt's accolades include election as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1992 and the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Social Sciences in 2020, shared with Aghion for advancing endogenous growth theory. In 2025, he shared the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences with Aghion and Joel Mokyr. He is also a fellow of the Econometric Society and a senior fellow at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.[11][12][13]Filmography
As director
Peter Howitt made his directorial debut with the feature film Sliding Doors (1998), a romantic comedy-drama produced by Miramax Films with a budget of $6 million.[2][14] His next project was the thriller Antitrust (2001), a crime drama produced by MGM with a $30 million budget.[15]) Note: Wikipedia cited only for confirmation, but primary from IMDb. Johnny English (2003), an action-adventure comedy co-produced by Working Title Films and distributed by Universal Pictures, had a $40 million budget.[16][17] In 2004, Howitt directed the romantic comedy Laws of Attraction, produced by New Line Cinema with a $32 million budget.[18][19] Dangerous Parking (2007) was an independent drama funded by private investors, marking a lower-budget personal project based on a novel.[20][21] Transitioning to television, Howitt directed three episodes of the science fiction drama series Defying Gravity in 2009.[22] He helmed the Disney Channel Original Movie Radio Rebel (2012), a teen drama-comedy.[23] Note: Primary from IMDb. In 2013, Howitt directed one episode ("The Second Amendment") of the crime drama series Rogue.[24][25] The feature Reasonable Doubt (2014), a crime thriller produced by Paradox Entertainment with an $8 million budget, followed.[26][27] Howitt directed all four episodes of the Canadian action-suspense mini-series The Fixer in 2015.[28]) His most recent feature, the post-apocalyptic action film Scorched Earth (2018), was a low-budget production by Cinetel Media Group.[29][30] As of November 2025, Howitt has no announced new directorial projects following Scorched Earth.[1]As actor
Peter Howitt began his acting career in British television during the early 1980s, appearing in several supporting roles before achieving prominence in the sitcom Bread. His early television work included the role of Raif Williamson in the BBC series Solo (1981–1982), where he portrayed a young cyclist in one episode of the second series. In 1983, he guest-starred as Nick in an episode of the drama series Studio, set in a recording studio environment. That same year, Howitt appeared as Simmo in the BBC anthology series Jury, a single-episode role in a story exploring legal proceedings.[31] Howitt's breakthrough came with his recurring role as Tom Selby in the educational drama series How We Used to Live (1984–1985), where he appeared in 12 episodes depicting historical family life in early 20th-century Britain.[32] He then gained widespread recognition for portraying Joey Boswell, the eldest son in a chaotic Liverpool family, in the first four series of the BBC comedy Bread (1986–1991), appearing in 39 episodes before leaving the show after the 1988 Christmas special.[33] His performance as the leather-clad, aspiring musician Joey became one of his most iconic roles, contributing to the series' popularity during its run. Transitioning to film in the early 1990s, Howitt made a minor appearance as a Remand Prison Officer in the biographical drama In the Name of the Father (1993), directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Daniel Day-Lewis.[34] He continued with small parts in other features, including the role of SAS Leader in the historical drama Some Mother's Son (1996), which explored the 1981 Irish hunger strikes and featured Helen Mirren. Howitt's on-screen acting largely tapered off by the mid-1990s as he shifted focus to directing, with subsequent appearances limited to cameo or uncredited roles in projects like Sliding Doors (1998) and Johnny English (2003).[1] No documented voice work or additional uncredited roles from this period have been identified in major film databases.[35]As writer
Peter Howitt's screenwriting credits primarily consist of original screenplays for feature films he also directed.[1]- Sliding Doors (1998): Howitt wrote the original screenplay, which explores parallel realities through a woman's missed train, earning him a nomination for the European Film Award for European Screenwriter.
- Dangerous Parking (2007): Howitt penned the screenplay, adapted from his own novel, focusing on a rock musician's battle with cancer.