Later, he would spend the next several years performing with Sideswipe Performance Team before returning to acting in 2009. Getting a commercial was like getting a lead role in a movie to him.įirstly, Howard made his television debut in 2005, shortly before his eighth birthday with a small guest-starring role on the USA Network series, Monk dressed as a “little karate kid” for Halloween, his one line in the episode being “Maybe he’s afraid of karate”. In 2010, Howard remembered his excitement about breaking into show business, saying that the commercials were just insane to him. This led to work as a model for print advertorials and later as an actor in commercials. When Howard was nine years old, he became the youngest member to perform with Mullins’ Sideswipe Performance Team, a traveling martial arts-based group that entertains audiences across the country with a combination of martial arts, dance and acrobatics. His specialty is Shōrin-ryū, in which he holds a black belt. When Howard was eight years old Howard had won three world championships.

Howard started training under martial arts world champion Matt Mullins when Mullins made an exception allowing him to become the youngest student in his class. Howard developed an interest in martial arts when he was four years old and started studying at the age of four when his parents enrolled him at a dojo in Oceanside, California.Ī year later, Howard’s parents enrolled him at another dojo which specialized in the Okinawan discipline of Shōrin-ryū and when he was seven years old, he started developing his extreme martial arts skills by adding gymnastics to his routine.

Leo howard karate moves