JON HEDER
Name: Jonathan Joseph Heder
Born: 26 October 1977 Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.
Jonathan Joseph Heder (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. He has also appeared in The Benchwarmers, School for
Scoundrels and Blades of Glory.
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. Heder graduated from
Walker Middle School and South Salem High School in Salem, Oregon in 1996. He is
a former member of the swim team at South Salem High. In addition, he was a
staff member of the Drama Association, DRAMA, in 1995. In the issue, there is a
piece of art by Jon Heder that resembles a liger.
Heder is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served
an LDS mission in Japan, for which he learned to speak Japanese.
A 2002 alumnus of Brigham Young University, Heder worked on the short CGI
animated film "Pet Shop" which earned a non-traditional animation student Emmy
in 2005. After his movie career took off, he did not return to complete the work
he started on the short, although his name does appear in the credits. Also,
while attending BYU he befriended Jared Hess and starred in his short film
Peluca, which was later expanded into Napoleon Dynamite. "Peluca" received rave
reviews on the BYU campus after showing at a few college and local film
festivals and competitions.
Heder is the nephew by marriage of former NFL running back and current WCAU
sports caster, Vai Sikahema.
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 Napoleon Dynamite, for which he was paid only $1,000, 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 as a clerk in a new age bookstore 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 nomine
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 films, 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.
Heder was mentioned in a positive light in the infamous South Park episode,
Trapped in the Closet, where Stan Marsh tells Tom Cruise he's not as good an
actor as "the Napoleon Dynamite guy".
Name: Jonathan Joseph Heder
Born: 26 October 1977 Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.
Jonathan Joseph Heder (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. He has also appeared in The Benchwarmers, School for
Scoundrels and Blades of Glory.
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. Heder graduated from
Walker Middle School and South Salem High School in Salem, Oregon in 1996. He is
a former member of the swim team at South Salem High. In addition, he was a
staff member of the Drama Association, DRAMA, in 1995. In the issue, there is a
piece of art by Jon Heder that resembles a liger.
Heder is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served
an LDS mission in Japan, for which he learned to speak Japanese.
A 2002 alumnus of Brigham Young University, Heder worked on the short CGI
animated film "Pet Shop" which earned a non-traditional animation student Emmy
in 2005. After his movie career took off, he did not return to complete the work
he started on the short, although his name does appear in the credits. Also,
while attending BYU he befriended Jared Hess and starred in his short film
Peluca, which was later expanded into Napoleon Dynamite. "Peluca" received rave
reviews on the BYU campus after showing at a few college and local film
festivals and competitions.
Heder is the nephew by marriage of former NFL running back and current WCAU
sports caster, Vai Sikahema.
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 Napoleon Dynamite, for which he was paid only $1,000, 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 as a clerk in a new age bookstore 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 nomine
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 films, 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.
Heder was mentioned in a positive light in the infamous South Park episode,
Trapped in the Closet, where Stan Marsh tells Tom Cruise he's not as good an
actor as "the Napoleon Dynamite guy".