Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey on July 31, 1969, Howard is the youngest of three boys. His parents were both lawyers. His father, Frank Howard Jr., was also a lieutenant with the Newark Police Department. Shawn attended an all boys, Jesuit Catholic high school in Jersey City, and was accepted into a pre-law program at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, with intentions of joining his parents' law firm. He left after one year and transferred to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, from which he graduated (BFA/Theater) in 1992. While still in school, he appeared, off-Broadway in Mac Wellman's Obie award winning play, 'Crowbar,' played a succession of character roles in episodic television, and won a leading role in his first film, 'Above The Rim', opposite Tupac Shakur and Marlon Wayans. Howard moved to Hollywood, in 1994 and in less than 30 days, landed his next leading role, opposite Terrence Howard in the film Sunset Park. His film and television career was boosted by a regular role on the NBC series, The Single Guy, and the HBO film, Boycott, in which he starred opposite Jeffrey Wright and Terrence Howard. He is also the proud father of Elijah Kovacevich Howard, a fellow Leo, (b. August 1, 1996).