Devon Sawa

Devon Edward Sawa (born September 7, 1978) is a Canadian actor. He began acting when he was a teenager and appeared in several films in the 1990s including Little Giants, Casper, Now and Then, Wild America, Idle Hands, and Final Destination. He also portrayed the title character of the Eminem music video "Stan" and starred as Owen Elliot in The CW action spy drama series Nikita. In addition, he has played several roles in the USA Network & Syfy horror series Chucky.

Devon Sawa
Sawa in 2024
Born	Devon Edward Sawa (1978-09-07) September 7, 1978 (age 45) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1989–present
Notable work	Little Giants Casper Now and Then Wild America Idle Hands Final Destination Chucky
Spouse	Dawni Sahanovitch ​ (m. 2013)​
Children	2

Early life

Sawa was born on September 7, 1978,^[1] in Vancouver, the son of Joyce and Edward Sawa, a mechanic. He has two older siblings. His father was Polish, and his mother is "a little bit of everything".^[2]

Career

Sawa began his career in 1992 at age 14 as a children's action toy spokesman. He made his film debut in Little Giants in 1994 and received wide recognition for playing the title role as a human boy in Casper the following year. In Now and Then (1995), Sawa played the town bully, Scott Wormer. He subsequently appeared in the films Wild America (1997), Idle Hands (1999), and Final Destination (2000). In 2000, Sawa played the title character of the Eminem music video "Stan".^[3] He later did voice acting, voicing Flash Thompson in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. Sawa continued to work steadily in the 2000s by appearing in several independent films, including Extreme Dating, Shooting Gallery, Devil's Den, Creature Of Darkness, Endure, 388 Arletta Avenue, The Philly Kid, and A Resurrection.^[4][5]

In 2010, Sawa portrayed Owen Elliott on The CW action drama series Nikita.^[6][7] In July 2012, he was promoted to series regular in the third season of Nikita; the show ended after four seasons in 2013.^[8] In 2016, Sawa played the lead role in Punk's Dead, a sequel to SLC Punk! by the same director. In 2017, he portrayed the role of Nico Jackson in Somewhere Between; the show ended after one season. In 2019, Sawa appeared as Lester Clark Jr. in Escape Plan: The Extractors.^[9] He also starred in the thriller The Fanatic, where he played Hunter Dunbar, an actor who is stalked by a character named Moose. The movie was directed by Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst. Sawa later starred in the films Hunter Hunter (2020) and Black Friday (2021).^[10][11]

Personal life

Sawa married Canadian producer Dawni Sahanovitch in 2013.^[12] They have two children together, a son born in 2014 and a daughter born in 2016.^[13][14][15]

Sawa has described himself as being irreligious, an atheist, and supportive of religious freedoms.^[16][17]

In June 2022, Sawa gave a lengthy interview to The Independent, where he said that he sought out roles in which the character smoked marijuana to help get away from his teen heartthrob status which began with Casper. Sawa also said that between 2004 and 2009, he "drank a lot" until going sober after meeting his wife in Vancouver.^[18]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Little Giants	Junior Floyd
1995	Casper	Casper McFadden (human form)
	Now and Then	Scott Wormer
1997	The Boys Club	Eric
	Wild America	Mark Stouffer
1998	A Cool, Dry Place	Noah Ward
	SLC Punk!	Sean
	Around the Fire	Simon Harris
1999	Idle Hands	Anton Tobias
2000	Final Destination	Alex Browning
	The Guilty	Nathan Corrigan
2002	Slackers	Dave Goodman
	Extreme Ops	Will
2005	Extreme Dating	Daniel Roenick
	Shooting Gallery	Paul the Pawn	Direct-to-video
2006	Devil's Den	Quinn	Direct-to-video
2009	Creature of Darkness	Andrew
2010	Endure	Zeth Arnold
2011	388 Arletta Avenue	Bill Burrows	Direct-to-video
2012	The Philly Kid	Jake	Direct-to-video
2013	A Resurrection	Travis
2014	A Warden's Ransom	Miller
2015	The Exorcism of Molly Hartley	John Barrow	Direct-to-video
	Life on the Line	Duncan	Direct-to-video
2016	Punk's Dead	Sean	Direct-to-video
2019	Escape Plan: The Extractors	Lester Clark Jr.	Direct-to-video
	The Fanatic	Hunter Dunbar
	Jarhead: Law of Return	Ronan Jackson	Direct-to-video
2020	Disturbing the Peace	Diablo
	Hunter Hunter	Joseph Mersault
	Death Rider in the House of Vampires	Death Rider	Direct-to-video
2021	Black Friday	Ken
2022	Gasoline Alley	Jimmy Jayne	Direct-to-video
2023	Who Are You People	Karl
2024	Consumed[19]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Unsub	Young John Wesley	Episode: "And the Dead Shall Rise to Condemn Thee: Part 2"
1992–1994	The Odyssey	Yudo	3 episodes
1993	Sherlock Holmes Returns	Young Booth	TV film
1995	Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years	Hank Valen	Episode: "The Hanging"
1995–1996	Action Man	Additional voices	26 episodes
1996	Night of the Twisters	Dan Hatch	TV film
	Robin of Locksley	Robin McAllister	TV film
2003	Spider-Man: The New Animated Series	Flash Thompson	Voice, episode: "Flash Memory"
2010	NCIS: Los Angeles	Matt Bernhart	Episode: "The Bank Job"
2010–2013	Nikita	Owen Elliot / Sam Matthews	Recurring role (seasons 1–2); main role (seasons 3–4)
2015	Broad Squad	Patrick Byrne	TV film
2016	Real Detective	Eddie Herman	Episode: "Redemption"
2017	Somewhere Between	Nico Jackson	Main role
2018	Hawaii Five-0	Brad Woodward	Episode: "O Ka Mea Ua Hala, Ua Hala Ia"
2020	MacGyver	Donovan James O' Mailey	Episode: "Mac + Desi + Riley + Aubrey"
2021–present	Chucky	Logan Wheeler / Lucas Wheeler	Recurring role (season 1)
		Father Bryce	Main role (season 2)
		James Collins / Randall Jenkins	Main role (season 3)
2021	Magnum P.I.	Robbie Nelson	2 episodes
2022	Hacks	Jason	Episode: "The Click"

Music video

Year	Title	Artist	Role	Notes
2000	"Stan"	Eminem	Stanley

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1997	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Movie / Mini-Series – Young Actor	Night of the Twisters	Nominated
1999	Teen Choice Awards	Most Disgusting Film Scene[lower-alpha 1]	Idle Hands	Nominated
2000	Saturn Awards	Best Performance by a Younger Actor	Idle Hands	Nominated
2001	Saturn Awards	Best Performance by a Younger Actor	Final Destination	Won
	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Actor – Horror	Final Destination	Nominated
2021	HNiD Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Hunter Hunter	Runner-up[20]

Notes

1. For the scene where Sawa's character in Idle Hands, Anton, discovers his cat licking his mother's eyeball.

References

1. "Celebrity birthdays for the week of Sept. 5-11". Associated Press. August 30, 2021. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021. Sept. 7... Actor Devon Sawa (Slackers, Final Destination) is 43.
2. Bailey, Andy (February 2000). "Devon Sawa - Brief Article - Interview". Find Articles. Archived from the original on September 20, 2004.
3. D. Sawa DevonSawa.org Filmography: "Stan" Archived October 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
4. Cato, Jason (December 8, 2010). "Wilkinsburg native producing star-studded 'Sibling' in Pittsburgh". Pittsburghlive.com. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2011.
5. Creepy, Uncle (December 8, 2010). "Devon Sawa Meets His Sibling". Dread Central. Archived from the original on December 15, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2011.
6. Nguyen, Hanh (August 26, 2010). "'Nikita': Devon Sawa will guest star as a new nemesis". Zap2it. Archived from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
7. Nguyen, Hanh (April 13, 2011). "Nikita's Devon Sawa: There's No "Nikita-Owen Love Thing Going On"... for Now". TV Guide. Archived from the original on May 17, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
8. Masters, Megan (July 11, 2012). "Exclusive: Nikita Promotes Devon Sawa to Series Regular in Season 3". TVLine. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
9. Hawson, Fred (July 12, 2019). "Movie review: Chinese actors take spotlight from Stallone in 'Escape Plan 3'". ABS-CBN. Archived from the original on January 14, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
10. "Hunter Hunter". rogerebert.com. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
11. "Black Friday". rogerebert.com. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
12. "Baby Girl on the Way for Devon Sawa; Wife Dawni Is Pregnant". People.com. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
13. "Devon Sawa Welcomes Daughter Scarlett Heleena". People. March 22, 2016. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
14. Michaud, Sarah (January 16, 2014). "Devon Sawa Welcomes Son Hudson". People. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
15. "Devon Sawa Welcomes Daughter Scarlett Heleena". People. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
16. Sawa, Devon [@DevonESawa] (March 17, 2018). "I'll respect your religion as long as you respect me not having one. I don't care WHAT gets you through life with a smile on your face, as long as it doesn't affect me" (Tweet). Retrieved August 18, 2020 – via Twitter.
17. Sawa, Devon [@DevonESawa] (June 13, 2018). "I'm a Polish atheist!" (Tweet). Retrieved August 18, 2020 – via Twitter.
18. Brodsky, Rachel (June 8, 2022). "Devon Sawa: 'I had to smoke pot in movies and be in a hip-hop video to get away from Casper'". The Independent. Archived from the original on November 4, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
19. Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (July 31, 2024). "𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗘𝗗 - 𝗥𝟭𝟲". Facebook. Meta Platforms, Inc. Retrieved July 31, 2024. Cast: Devon Sawa
20. Nowicki, Albert (January 11, 2021). "Druga edycja nagród HNiD". His Name is Death (in Polish). Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

External links

• Devon Sawa on X
• Devon Sawa at IMDb