Back in the ‘90s, the teen hunks of the era reigned supreme on the covers of Bop and Tiger Beat. One of those magazine cover kings was Devon Sawa — bright blue eyes, the part-down-the-middle blonde ‘do, and endearing front tooth gap — girls would pick up those magazines with him on the cover, wondering just what this cute Canadian boy wanted in a girlfriend, convincing themselves they for sure fit that description.
Devon kind of popped into movies out of nowhere, unlike his fellow teen dreamboat, JTT, who had a television show to propel him to movie stardom. Devon started out doing good guy/dream boat roles, but eventually transitioned to some weirder stuff to attempt to get past that teenage heartthrob phase — with varying degrees of success.
Though he went a bit off the radar for a while around the time he did Eminem’s “Stan” music video, his career has seen something of a resurgence since a recurring guest star role on The CW’s Nikita in the early 2010s. But if you’ve seen Devon lately and thought to yourself, wait, does something seem different about his look? There is — he got rid of that endearing tooth gap, my friends. Tooth gap or not, these days he’s amassed a following on Twitter and Instagram that’s not too shabby.
Below, we’ll take a look at some of his most memorable roles during his teen heartthrob period.
Casper
Devon was barely even in Casper, and yet it set many teen girls’ hearts aflutter. One of his first roles, Devon played the “real” version of Casper the ghost for maybe five minutes total, making all the girls swoon with his, “Can I keep you?” line. IMDb claims that Casper came out after Little Giants, but I have to think it was filmed before it, because Devon looks so darn young.
Little Giants
If you were a boy in the ‘90s, you probably liked Little Giants for the underdog story of an inept football team overtaking the bigger, better, bullying team. Or maybe you were there for Rick Moranis and Ed O’Neill. But if you were a girl? Sure, the movie was about a girl joining said ragtag football team, but honestly, you were probably there for Devon, daydreaming that you were the Icebox getting to tussle with Junior Floyd.
Now and Then
Devon had a supporting role in Now and Then, a movie about a group of women reminiscing about growing up during one of their summer teenage years. Devon played one of the annoying neighbor boys that secretly had a crush on Christina Ricci’s Roberta, the tomboy of the bunch. A rare movie that focused on teen girls instead of teen boys or the typical romantic comedy vibes, it was certainly memorable for the teenage girls of the ‘90s.
Night of the Twisters
Probably many of you haven’t seen Night of the Twisters, a little known disaster movie -- it was made for TV in Canada, though it was set in Nebraska. As you can guess, it was about a small town beset by a whole storm of tornadoes one night. Devon played a teenager left to take care of his baby brother who also had to try to find his family amidst the tornados. Purely for the true Devon fans.
Wild America
Featuring another of our teen dreamboats of the ‘90s, Wild America was catnip for any girl who was a fan of both Devon Sawa and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Both of them? Together? In a movie? You’re talking about two of the most popular teen magazine pinups from that era. In the movie, they played brothers who set out on a road trip with their older brother to film wild animals. Was it an amazing movie? No. Was it still entertaining, especially if you loved the two of them? Yes.
SLC Punk!
Devon had a supporting role in SLC Punk!, a film about young punks growing up in the '80s in Salt Lake City. Though not very commercially popular at the time, it has gained a sort of cult following since its release. Devon had some memorable scenes in a clothing store and while on an acid trip. Definitely not the same young stud the ladies were used to seeing, this was when Devon started to take on more “grown up” roles.
Idle Hands
One of Devon’s first starring roles during his post-teen era was in Idle Hands, -- he played a stoner whose hand becomes possessed by the devil. Yes, like actual Satan. And that devil's hand wanted to cause havoc. It was a wacky movie that also starred Jessica Alba and Seth Green, and gave Devon a chance to show off his more comedic side.
Love '90s horror movies? Check out our article featuring Idle Hands: The Top 10 '90s Teen Horror Movies - Ranked
Final Destination
A memorable entry in the supernatural horror genre that spawned a bunch of not-as-good sequels, Final Destination starred Devon as a young man who has a vision that his plane is going to crash. When he and some other travelers get off the plane before it takes off, and it indeed does crash, they think they've cheated death. But death has other plans.
Were (are) you a Devon Sawa fan? What was your favorite movie of his? Let us know in the comments!
- Devon was born in Vancouver, Canada, the youngest of three siblings.
- After Devon starred in the very popular music video for Eminem’s “Stan” about an overzealous fan, it inspired people to call obsessive fans Stans.
- Sorry, ladies, Devon is married with two kids, a son and a daughter.
- He has resisted going to conventions celebrating popular movies and series of the past, but has said he may consider it in the future.
- He has two tattoos – a cartoon devil on one arm, and a cross on the other arm.
- Devon was born in Vancouver, Canada, the youngest of three siblings.
- After Devon starred in the very popular music video for Eminem’s “Stan” about an overzealous fan, it inspired people to call obsessive fans Stans.
- Sorry, ladies, Devon is married with two kids, a son and a daughter.
- He has resisted going to conventions celebrating popular movies and series of the past, but has said he may consider it in the future.
- He has two tattoos – a cartoon devil on one arm, and a cross on the other arm.
