About Me
Film & theatre director, writer, songwriter, producer and published poet.Howson was born in Melbourne, Australia. He entered show-business at the age of 7 as a tap dancer, singer and child actor, and had starred in 21 major theatrical productions by his 21st birthday. Ever restless, he became interested in writing his own songs and went on to enjoy great success in this field by having his compositions recorded by such acts as Little River Band, Richie Havens, Dan Hill, Marc Jordan, Eric Idle, Kate Ceberano, Venetta Fields, Guy Pearce, amongst others. He discovered and published the band Pseudo Echo who enjoyed much chart success internationally and scored a top 3 hit in the U.S. Howson recorded his own singles and enjoyed success in his homeland. He also headed a thriving music publishing and recording company. He went on to write many hit theater shows and gained a great deal of respect in Australia for his productions for children. In 1987 he wrote and produced the movie Boulevard of Broken Dreams (1988) which was nominated for 7 AFI Awards including Best Film. It eventually won two. From there, Howson wrote and produced Heaven Tonight (1989), What the Moon Saw (1990), Hunting (1991) (which he also directed), Beyond My Reach (1990), Flynn (1996) (also directed) and others. During that time he discovered Guy Pearce as a movie actor and starred him in his first 3 films. In 1989 he was presented with the Producer of the Year Award from Film Victoria. His films have been sold to such companies as Miramax, Disney, Warner, Village Roadshow, Paramount, J&M Entertainment, Filmstar, ABC, Hoyts, Skouras, etc. After a very prolonged and messy break-up with his business partner, Howson moved to Los Angeles in 1997 and stayed for 9 years working in the entertaintment industry. During that time he was commissioned to write several screenplays for various producers and remained active. In 2000 Arthur Hiller optioned the rights to Howson's screenplay "The Lonely Heart". That same year he was commissioned by Joe Ezterhas to write original songs for the movie "Burn Hollywood Burn". During that time, Howson was asked by acclaimed English actor Steven Berkoff to direct the TV version of his hit off-Broadway play "Shakespeare's Villains". In July 2001 Frank Howson married actress Terri Garber in Miami, Florida. During the time he spent with Garber he gave up his showbiz career but since the split has written new songs recorded by Little River Band on their 2004 album "Test of Time". Along with his business associate John Grimaldi, Howson conceived and devised the original idea for "G'Day L.A", the annual weeklong event in Los Angeles that celebrates everything Australian. Howson & Grimaldi presented the idea to the Australian Consul, the Honourable John Olsen, and the rest is history. It remains the most successful Australian promotion ever. Upon returning to Australia, Howson was invited to be President of the Jury for the Melbourne Underground Film Festival in 2005 and is currently writing his memoirs on his life in the movie business. His award winning song "Andre" was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall by Judith Durham during her latest U.K. tour. He recently received the Short Poppy Award in his hometown of Melbourne and his screenplay "Winter in America" was performed in a rehearsed reading at the ACMI theatre, Federation Square. In September 2005 he directed the Melbourne premiere of Caryl Churchill's acclaimed play, "A Number" to rave reviews. It was revived due to public interest at Chapel Off Chapel in July 2006 for a return season, this time starring Alex Scott and Ross Ditcham. Keith Potger's new album "SUNDAY" contains 6 songs co-written with Howson, and his new film as director/writer "Remembering Nigel" won the 2006 Best Short Film Award at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival. It is now being extended into a feature. Howson also appears as an actor in the new Richard Wolstencroft film "The Beautiful and Damned" (a modern version of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel). He is presently working on a one woman show for Rhonda Burchmore, writing a musical, and collaborating on a new album of songs. Frank Howson was invited to direct "The Replacement Son" for this year's Short & Sweet season at the Melbourne Arts Centre. It opened on December 12 2007. In March 2008 Frank Howson was inducted into the Cinema Pioneers.
