Biography
Date of Birth
7 December 1978, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Birth Name
Devon Edward Sawa
Height
5' 11" (1.8 m)
Mini Biography
Devon started his career as a young actor in Vancouver, Canada. First in the theater, and then moving onto smaller roles on TV. His breakout role was the title character in the Universal motion picture, Casper. He went on to star in many more films during his teens such as Now and Then, Little Giants and Wild America. In his early twenties, Devon sought out edgier projects. Movies like Idle Hands, SLC Punk, Final Destination, Slackers and playing 'Stan' in the acclaimed video for Eminem's hit song of the same name, directed by Dr. Dre. After a small break out of the business, Devon returned and has completed multiple projects.
Trivia
Name pronounced DEH-vuhn SAH-wa.
Mom: Joyce Sawa, Dad: Ed Sawa, Brother: Brandon Sawa, Sister: Stephanie Sawa.
Has two tattoos - a cartoon devil on one arm, and a cross on the other arm.
He got the part of Stan in the Eminem video of the same name because Dr. Dre saw him in Final Destination (2000) and loved it.
Did his own stunts in Extreme Ops (2002), including the part where he is under the train filming his friends.
Was originally cast to play Neil Lawrence in Chasing Holden (2003).
Son of production coordinator Joyce Sawa.
He is good friends with Stuart Stone.
Has two children with his wife Dawni Sahanovitch a son Hudson born January 9, 2014 and a daughter Scarlett Heleena born March 21, 2016.
A Mexican cinema magazine, "Cine Premiere", has a weekly podcast where they dedicate a few minutes to him, entitled "This week with Devon Sawa" which ensures that he's happy and well.
Has appeared in 2 films with Christina Ricci where they share a kiss and both released in 1995. Casper and Now and Then.
Quotes
Live long, play hard.... Oh, wait, that's Nike
I don't know if I have ever been in love.
My fans made me, but sometimes there's some weird stories about me, my favorite color, the kind of girls I like, all of that stuff that's just not true and I never said it. All I ask is that my fans don't believe everything they read.
There are tons of things that have been written about me on the Internet that are total crap. I'll go on to these fan sites and think, where the hell did that come from? All of a sudden I have two gerbils and four goldfish? I mean, really, two gerbils? And they're named Coke and Pepsi or something like that? Come on!
(2012, on being a former teen heartthrob) Well, it was something that was really hard to break out of. As soon as I got to 17 and 18 years old and I wasn't playing these teen roles anymore, it was hard to transition. So I thought I was going to do the weirdest stuff I could possibly do. Stuff that was edgier and alternative, like Idle Hands and SLC Punk! and the "Stan" video. I wanted to get out of that kind of teen-idol thing. So far it's worked. Now I'm doing another transition from the college roles and all that to young doctor, young lawyer, young cop. It's been quite a journey.
(2012, on landing the "Stan" Eminem video because of Dr. Dre) I had a friend who was a mutual friend. That friend called me up saying, "Hey, Dre's a big fan of Final Destination. Would you come in and meet Eminem?" And I said, "In a heartbeat." I went into the studio and I met him and he approved it. And the next week we were shooting. It was a wild, wild shoot. Dido looked borderline-scared sometimes during that shoot. I was playing this crazy, obsessed lunatic fan, and this was her first acting thing. She'd look at me like, "Are you being serious right now?" It was pretty crazy. Dre co-directing it was huge for me. I've listened to his music from the time I was a young teenager all the way up until now. The guy's a legend. He's a genius... You just feel the greatness around. He's smart, and he knows what he's doing. It's the same feeling you get when you're around Spielberg. You just know that they're something special.
I took six months off, finished high school, and hung out with friends.
I'm trying to go through the whole process of high school to college to work.
Id like to do an action film or a dark sort of independent piece.
I started off in a small theatre performance company and worked my way into commercials.
I spent most of my high school years on movie sets and I'd have like one teacher, which was really bad.
I don't think I want to play a teenager anymore.
I can't do talk shows, I don't do them, just because I get really nervous and fidgeting and shaky.
I've always been interesting in the lighting aspect and always listened to what they were saying.
For every 10 good things, there's always some jerk that wants to say something bad.
When the movie's on, I usually watch more of the audience.
The next movie I do is not going to be in school.
Final Destination was the closest thing I've done to a teen movie but it certainly had an edge to it.
I've never liked the press part of it (no offense), but it comes with the job.
I was a hyper kid in school and the teacher suggested to my mom she needed to do something with me.
I guess I'm growing up in the film world.
I look for things that are going to challenge me as an actor.
You know, I've never shot a gun in a movie.
For instance, when I go to the premiere on Tuesday I probably won't watch the film at all - I'll be watching the audience just to see their reaction to different moments, what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong, stuff like that.
