This versatile stage-trained character player of the 1980s and 90s first registered with a role in the high-profile ABC-TV movie "The Day After" (1983), about the aftermath of a nuclear disaster. After several years of bouncing between low-budget features ("The Lightship" 1985) and TV-movies ("A Killer in the Family," ABC 1983), Howard registered with audiences with his portrayal of Cowboy, a gung-ho marine, in Stanley Kubrick's devastating Vietnam saga "Full Metal Jacket" (1987). He has since turned in some fine performances in features, including "Tequila Sunrise" (1988), as Mel Gibson's drug-addicted cousin; "Men Don't Leave" (1990), as Jessica Lange's love interest; "Wilder Napalm" (1993), as Dennis Quaid's pyromaniac brother; and "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" (1995), as Stockard Channing's abusive husband. More recently, he co-starred in the independent "johns" and offered a villainous turn as the British businessman out to capture dinosaurs for exhibitions in Steven Spielberg's sequel "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (both 1997).