Jon Heder
Jon Heder | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jonathan Joseph Heder |
| Height | 6' 1½" (1.87 m) |
| Spouse | Kirsten Bales (23 November 2002 - present) |
Jonathan Joseph Heder (pronounced "heeder") (born October 26, 1977) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his portrayal of the title character in 2004's Napoleon Dynamite as well as his role in the more recent Blades of Glory, as well as The Benchwarmers
Early life
Heder was born in Fort Collins, Colorado, one of six children of family practice physician Dr. James Heder and his wife Helen, the second-born of a pair of identical twins (his brother is Dan Heder). He has an older sister and brother, Rachel and Doug, and two younger brothers, Adam and Matt.
He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served an LDS mission in Japan, and learned to speak Japanese as a result.
He is the nephew by marriage of former NFL running back and current WCAU sports caster, Vai Sikahema.[1]
Heder graduated from South Salem High School in Salem, Oregon in 1996. He is a 2003 alumnus of Brigham Young University, where he studied 3-D animation. While attending BYU he befriended Jared Hess and starred in his short film Peluca, which was later expanded into Napoleon Dynamite.
Career
Napoleon Dynamite, filmed in Preston, Idaho, earned more revenue than almost any other Sundance movie. Napoleon's trademark frizzy hair is actually a perm created for the character by Kristi Jarvis, contributing to his quirky image. In June 2005, Heder received the MTV Movie Awards for Best Musical Performance and Breakthrough Male Performance for the role. On October 8, 2005, he hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guest Ashlee Simpson. Since his success with Dynamite,which he got paid only $1,000 to do (according to imdb.com), Heder and his film co-star Efren Ramirez filmed a series of commercials to promote the 2005 Utah State Fair. They appear as their characters from Napoleon Dynamite; in at least one commercial, they are shown with the FFA medals that they won in the context of the movie.
He had a supporting role in the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven. He also starred alongside Rob Schneider and David Spade as part of the trio in producer Adam Sandler's The Benchwarmers (2006), a comedy about three grown men making up for lost chances by creating their own Little League baseball team; as the voice of the character Skull in the animated film Monster House, and in the comedy School for Scoundrels, opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Jacinda Barrett. With the exception of the Academy Award winning Monster House, Heder's post-Dynamite movies were widely panned and he risked becoming a one-hit wonder until he co-starred in 2007 with Will Ferrell in the well-received Blades of Glory (2007). Like many of Heder's vehicles, Blades of Glory is an absurd, slapstick caricature, in this case revolving around male figure skaters who must team up in pairs competition.
Heder's second turn at voice acting came in 2007 when he voiced the character of Chicken Joe, a surfing chicken, in the animated film Surf's Up.
Personal life
He currently lives with his wife Kirsten Heder in Los Angeles, California. The two have been married since 2002. Kirsten gave birth to a baby girl, Evan Jane Heder, on April 6, 2007.[2] In 2005, an article on the web-site NinjaPirate.com started a heavily circulated, untrue rumor that Heder died in a car crash after leaving the wrap party for the film Moving McAllister.[3]
Heder's School for Scoundrels co-star, Billy Bob Thornton, has described Heder as a "Nice young Mormon man from Oregon",[4] while his other School for Scoundrels castmate, Jacinda Barrett, noted that Heder does not work on Sundays or swear.[5]
Jon and Dan
Jon stated during an appearance on the David Letterman show that he and Dan think alike and, as children, would often finish each other's sentences (a common occurrence with identical twins). When Letterman asked him whether being an identical twin is a good experience, Jon replied that it is mostly good, but that as children "people did treat you differently, like we were really just clones." He admitted that he had suffered identity crisis as a child, and recounted a story when he and Dan went to a friend's birthday party at the age of eight or nine and gave a box of candy as a gift. Their friend's father shared the candy out amongst the children, but was left with one short. As a 'logical' solution, he cut the last candy in half and gave each half to one of the twins. Jon recalls that he truly felt offended.
When they were young, Jon and Dan would (like many identical twins) swap places to confuse their friends and teachers [1] [2], and interviewers like to ask whether they still do. David Letterman asked Jon "from my perspective, how do I know I'm talking to the right one?" when he interviewed him in 2006, to which Jon simply replied, "you don't".
They have rarely been interviewed together. Once occasion was the Jimmy Kimmel show), which only happened because Dan happened to be sitting in the front row of the studio audience while Jon was being interviewed. The host asked Dan up onto the stage, and the twins bantered back and forth for the benefit of the audience. On other occasions, Jon and Dan have attended public occasions together (such as the premiere for The Nightmare Before Christmas (3D). At the premiere for The Nightmare Before Christmas (3D) Dan gamely pretended to be Jon for the benefit of a reporter until Jon was also available for interview.
The twins share a very close relationship, and Jon has commented that when they get together they "block everything else out. Nothing exists in our world except for us" (Interview). On the few occasions they have appeared together in public, Dan has appeared to be slightly more forward than Jon, and sometimes answered questions directed at his brother.
Dan often gets mistaken for Jon, and some fans will not believe he is actually Jon's twin, not Jon himself.[citation needed]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Napoleon Dynamite | Napoleon Dynamite | Starring role |
| 2005 | Just like Heaven | Darryl | |
| 2006 | The Benchwarmers | Clark Reedy | Starring Role |
| 2006 | Monster House | Reginald "Skull" Skulinski | Voice role |
| 2006 | School for Scoundrels | Roger | Starring Role |
| 2007 | Blades of Glory | Jimmy MacElroy | Starring role |
| 2007 | Mama's Boy | Jeffery McMannus | Starring role |
| 2007 | Surf's Up | Chicken Joe | Voice role |
| 2007 | Moving McAllister | Orlie |
In popular culture
- In the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet", Stan assesses Tom Cruise's acting skills by saying "I mean, you're not Gene Hackman or that guy who played Napoleon Dynamite, but you're okay."
Footnotes
- ^ "Dan Gross | Vai not big fan of actor/kin" article from Philly.com
- ^ Jon Heder and His Wife Have a Girl via People.com website
- ^ Blog post which started the "death in a carwreck" rumor
- ^ "DailyNews.com". School is in session. Retrieved September 24.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "BostonHerald.com". Billy Bob teaches Jacinda in School. Retrieved September 24.
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