Watching an early 1959 episode of The Twilight Zone, I was surprised to see a five-year old Ron Howard on the screen. I know he was young on The Andy Griffith Show, but did he start acting right out of the birth canal? According to Biography.com, his first role occurred at the age of two.

Sixty years after The Twilight Zone first aired children are filmed in utero (ultrasound) and upon birth live a life of social media exposure. Children today are on more visual images in a day than I believe my generation were on in their entire childhoods. But in Howard’s day, this was something new.

How did Ron Howard become such a young actor? Now that Ron Howard is 65, will he retire after 60 years of work?

Ron Howard

Researching Howard online, there is not much information about how he launched into acting. Amazon.com shows one biography in print, an unusually low volume for someone with such a long career. Clearly at age two you don’t decide to drive to the studio to audition for acting roles.

This means in looking at Howard’s horoscope we’ll want to look at the parental relationships. The sun and Saturn can represent the father; the moon and Venus, the mother. These early role models also represent the types we are drawn to throughout the rest of our lives.

According to the Astrotheme horoscope, Howard has sun in Pisces, moon in Capricorn and an Aries rising. The sun is cushioned by Mercury and Venus, both in Pisces.

The sun in Pisces and moon in Capricorn suggest the father was more of the nurturer than the mother, if we are considering traditional roles. The mother is represented by moon in Capricorn which suggests she was either emotionally remote or so emotionally demanding that Howard restrained his own emotions in response.

Moon in Capricorn can be a difficult position because the moon reacts and responds; in Capricorn, the responses are reserved or even repressed. This seems an odd placement for a young actor but if we consider that most children at age two or age five can’t sit still let alone remember and respond to acting dialogue delivered by adult actors. This takes a great deal of discipline for a young child.

Moon in Capricorn can be adult and for Howard that meant being around adults and interacting with adults in adult ways much more than other children of his age. Moon in Capricorn had to grow up quickly.

The moon has some hard aspects from cardinal signs with Neptune in Libra (square) and Uranus in Cancer (opposite). If we relate this to the mother (and females, for Howard), they vacillate between emotionally nurturing (Cancer), socially dependent (Libra) and practical and undemonstrative (Capricorn).

Hard aspects to the sun come from Jupiter in Gemini opposite Mars in Sagittarius. These are mutable signs and without the Capricorn moon, would probably be undisciplined and involved with ideas, socializing, entertainment and wandering after causes. Mutable is fun while Capricorn is serious.

If the parents are represented accurately in his horoscope, they are of two types with the father more playful and imaginative and the mother struggling with the best way to interact with her husband, friends and family. Women in those times were beginning to question female roles and Howard’s mother may have been one of those women seeking something beyond a traditional homemaker existence.

For Howard, the Pisces and Capricorn energy, which is truly introverted, may be why he’s been in public life so long but appears to have a great deal of privacy. Possibly starting as a child actor at the beginning of television precluded him falling into the traps that other child actors experienced from fame which brings many enablers into the environment. The adults around him appear to have protected him.

Major Transits for Howard

While Howard lives a quiet life of success (very Capricorn), he is actually experiencing some major transits right now. Pluto is currently transiting close to his moon and Neptune very close to his sun. If the parents are still alive, his relationship with them will be changing.

Neptune rules Pisces and conjunct the sun brings more of the qualities of Pisces – empathy, compassion, escapism, sacrifice, merging of boundaries and inspiration. For a man with moon in Capricorn, it might be that he relaxes more, lets down his guard and allows some unusual spontaneity into his life.

Pluto on the moon is bit more intense. While Neptune wants to chill, Pluto is compulsive. Pluto is challenging the moon in Capricorn so possibly those around him, especially woman, are saying he is too controlling.

Uranus which has been transiting Aries and will soon be moving into Taurus is near Howard’s ascendant which is the last degrees of Aries. Uranus in the first house (the ascendant is the beginning of the first house) brings a new awareness and often a new “you” to others.

Howard’s ascendant is in the late degrees of Aries; Uranus will remain in his first house for several years but will mostly be in the sign of Taurus. This is new body, possessions, assets. In a few years, it will oppose natal Saturn in Scorpio so there may be a release of assets to others.

Retirement for Howard?

Since Howard has always worked, this concept of “retirement” may be foreign to him. Yet with Pluto transforming his emotional responses and Neptune mellowing his sun, he may have a new type of vision for his retirement-age years.

While he may not be retiring in a career sense, he may be “retiring” inside from a sense of duty and obligation. With Uranus in the first house, he may feel “free” in a way unlike the past.