Jon Heder
Jonathan Joseph Heder (born October 26, 1977 in Fort Collins, Colorado), better known as Jon Heder, is an American actor and filmmaker, most famous for his portrayal of the title character in 2004's Napoleon Dynamite. The trademark frizzy haired Napoleon Dynamite is actually a perm created for the character, contributing to his quirky image. This was his debut movie, which earned more revenue than almost any other Sundance movie. Jon is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served an LDS mission to Japan. Jon currently lives with his wife Kirsten Heder in Los Angeles, California. He also has an identical twin brother named Daniel.
Heder is a 2003 alumnus of Brigham Young University. While attending, he befriended Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess and starred in his films Peluca and Napoleon Dynamite. Since his success with Dynamite, Heder and Efren Ramirez have 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 their FFA medals that they won in the context of the movie.
In June 2005, Heder received the MTV Movie Awards for Best Musical Performance and Breakthrough Male Performance. On October 8th, Heder hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guest Ashlee Simpson.
Heder co-starred in the 2005 romantic comedy Just Like Heaven. He also stars alongside Rob Schneider and David Spade as part of the trio in producer Adam Sandler's comedy The Benchwarmers (2006), a comedy about three grown men making up for lost chances by creating their own Little League baseball team, competing against other Little League teams.