Devon Sawa

Devon Edward Sawa (born September 7, 1978) is a Canadian actor. He began his career as a child actor, making his film debut with a supporting role in Little Giants (1994). He later portrayed the human form of Casper the Friendly Ghost in the fantasy film Casper (1995) and had starring roles in the films Wild America (1997), SLC Punk! (1998), and Idle Hands (1999).

Sawa had his breakout with a lead role as Alex Browning in the supernatural horror film Final Destination (2000). Following lead roles in the films Slackers (2002) and Extreme Ops (2002), Sawa mostly acted in direct-to-video productions for the remainder of the 2000s. In the 2010s, he had a recurring, later main, role as Owen Elliot / Sam Matthews on the CW television series Nikita (2010–2013). He also had a main role as Nico Jackson on the ABC series Somewhere Between (2017) and reprised his SLC Punk! role in the film's sequel, Punk's Dead (2016).

In the 2020s, Sawa experienced a career resurgence. He played multiple roles, both recurring and main, on the Syfy and USA Network horror series Chucky (2021–2024), and had a starring role in the horror film Heart Eyes (2025).

Early life

Devon Sawa was born on September 7, 1978,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in Vancouver, the son of Joyce and Edward Sawa, a mechanic. He has two older siblings. His father was of Polish descent, and his mother is "a little bit of everything".<ref name="feb2000int" />

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), SLC Punk! (1998), Idle Hands (1999), and Final Destination (2000). In 2000, Sawa played the title character of the Eminem music video "Stan".<ref>D. Sawa DevonSawa.org Filmography: "Stan" Template:Webarchive</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2010, Sawa portrayed Owen Elliott on The CW action drama series Nikita.<ref name=nikita/><ref name=nikitaowen/> In July 2012, he was promoted to series regular in the third season of Nikita; the show ended after four seasons in 2013.<ref name=tvl120711/> In 2016, Sawa played the lead role in Punk's Dead, a sequel to SLC Punk! by the same director James Merendino. 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He also starred in the thriller The Fanatic, where he played Hunter Dunbar, an actor who is stalked by a character named Moose (John Travolta). The movie was directed by Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst. Sawa later starred in the films Hunter Hunter (2020) and Black Friday (2021), which received favorable reviews.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Sawa married Canadian producer Dawni Sahanovitch in 2013.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They have two children together, a son born in 2014 and a daughter born in 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Sawa has described himself as being irreligious, an atheist, and supportive of religious freedoms.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref><ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Little Giants	Junior Floyd
1995	Casper	Casper McFadden	Template:Efn
	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	Final Destination 5	Alex Browning	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	388 Arletta Avenue	Bill Burrows	Direct-to-video
2012	The Philly Kid	Jake	Direct-to-video
2013	A Resurrection	Travis Blair
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
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 Bates
2022	Gasoline Alley	Jimmy Jayne	Direct-to-video
2023	Who Are You People	Karl
2024	Consumed<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Quinn
	All the Lost Ones	Conrad
2025	Heart Eyes	Zeke Hobbs	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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 James Moriarty 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	Magnum P.I.	Robbie Nelson	2 episodes
2021–2024	Chucky	Logan Wheeler / Lucas Wheeler	Recurring role (season 1)
		Father Bryce	Recurring role (season 2)
		James Collins / Randall Jenkins	Main role (season 3)
2022	Hacks	Jason	Episode: "The Click"
2024	Murder in a Small Town	Gordon Murphy	Episode: "A Touch of Panic"

Music videos

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	Template:Nom
1999	Teen Choice Awards	Most Disgusting Film SceneTemplate:Efn	Idle Hands	Template:Nom
2000	Saturn Awards	Best Performance by a Younger Actor	Idle Hands	Template:Nom
2001	Saturn Awards	Best Performance by a Younger Actor	Final Destination	Template:Won
	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Actor – Horror	Final Destination	Template:Nom
2021	HNiD Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Hunter Hunter	Template:Runner-up<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

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