
Terminator Salvation, a high-budgeted 2009 science fiction reboot, was her next project, replacing Claire Danes of TV’s Homeland for the role of Katherine Brewster-Connor from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). The same year she wrote and directed a short film, Orchids, as part of Glamour magazine's "Reel Moments" series funded by Cartier and FilmAid International. She is also billed as Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3 (2007). She starred as Rosalind in As You Like It (2006), a reprise of her stage role that made such an impression on Shyamalan. Howard replaced Nicole Kidman in Manderlay (2005). Night Shyamalan was impressed by her performance in a Broadway play and cast her without an audition as the female lead in his thrillers The Village (2004) and Lady in the Water (2006). She made her feature-film debut as Heather, a supporting role in Book of Love (2004). Young Howard appeared in three of her father's films as an extra, including her appearance as a child together with her mother in Apollo 13 (1995). At that time, she performed in Broadway productions of classical plays.


From 1999-2003, she studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory and at the New York University Tisch School of Arts, and graduated with a BFA degree in Drama in 2003. She applied to drama school as Bryce Dallas, dropping her last name to eschew special treatment because of association with her renowned father. Howard attended the prestigious Steppenwolf School and Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Camp at Catskills together with her friend Natalie Portman.
