Jon Heder

Jon Heder
Heder at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born	Jonathan Joseph Heder October 26, 1977 Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer
Years active	2000–present
Spouse(s)	Kirsten Bales (m. 2002)
Children	3

Jonathan Joseph "Jon" Heder (/ˈhiːdər/) (born October 26, 1977)^[1] is an American actor and producer. His feature film debut came in 2004 as the title character of the comedy film Napoleon Dynamite. He has also acted in the films The Benchwarmers, School for Scoundrels, Blades of Glory, Mama's Boy, When in Rome, and Walt Before Mickey as Roy Disney, and provided voice talents in the animated films Monster House and Surf's Up, as well as the Napoleon Dynamite animated series.

Early life

Heder was born in Fort Collins, Colorado, the son of Helen (née Brammer) and Dr. James Heder, a practicing physician. He has an identical twin brother,^[2] Dan, as well as an older sister and brother, Rachel and Doug, and two younger brothers, Adam and Matt. Heder is the nephew by marriage of former NFL running back and current WCAU sportscaster, Vai Sikahema.^[3] Heder is of part Swedish descent.^[4] Heder and his parents moved to Salem, Oregon, when he was about two years old.^[5] He attended Walker Middle School in Salem and graduated from South Salem High School in 1996,^[5] where he was on the swim team and was a member of the Drama Association.

A 2002 alumnus of Brigham Young University, Heder worked on the short CGI animated film "Pet Shop", written by Logan Deans, 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. While attending BYU he befriended Jared Hess and starred in Hess' 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.

Career

Napoleon Dynamite, filmed in Preston, Idaho, earned $44.5 million at the box office.^[6] In June 2005, Heder received the MTV Movie Award 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. After his success with Napoleon Dynamite, Heder and his film co-star Efren Ramirez filmed a series of commercials to promote the Utah's 2005 State Fair. They reprised their roles in a self-parody sketch called "Napoleon Bonamite" on the animated series Robot Chicken.

Heder appeared in the film The Sasquatch Gang. He had a supporting role as a clerk in a new age bookstore in the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven. Heder also appeared with Rob Schneider and David Spade 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. He was the voice of the character Skull in the animated film Monster House, and starred in the comedy School for Scoundrels, opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Jacinda Barrett. With the exception of the Academy Award-nominee 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 rival male figure skaters who must team up in a 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. His first foray into web television was in the 2008 web series Woke Up Dead starring and produced by Heder.^[7] Woke Up Dead is a web-based, live-action sci-fi comedy thriller about Drex, a twenty-something USC student who wakes up underwater in the bathtub one morning and suspects that he might be dead.

Jon and his twin brother Dan star together as villains in the fourth installment of the popular internet martial arts comedy series Sockbaby. Jon's performance in When in Rome was praised by New York Times critic A. O. Scott: "Jon Heder as a goofy street magician is the funniest of the bunch."^[8] In 2012, Heder returned to the role that made him famous by supplying the voice of Napoleon Dynamite in the Fox Network animated series, Napoleon Dynamite, which debuted in January 2012. In 2013, Heder appeared in the music video for "On Top of the World" with numerous other Utah based actors and musicians, and in 2014 he appeared in the music video for the Chromeo song "Old 45s".^[9]

Personal life

Jon Heder lives with his wife, Kirsten, in Los Angeles, California. The two have been married since 2002. The couple have three children.

He, like his brothers and father, is a Scouting enthusiast having achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.^[10] In 2010, he served as a Scoutmaster for the organization.^[10]

Jon is also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	The Wrong Brother	Audience Member	Short
2000	Funky Town	Officer Hardy	Short
2003	Peluca	Seth	Short
2004	Napoleon Dynamite	Napoleon Dynamite	MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Dance Scene Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Hissy Fit Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Breakthrough Performance Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout Performance - Male Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Blush Scene Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Love Scene Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Rumble
2005	Just Like Heaven	Darryl	Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Actor: Comedy
2005	Tankman Begins	Batman	Short
2006	The Benchwarmers	Clark Reedy	Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Rumble
2006	Monster House	Reginald "Skull" Skulinski	Voice
2006	School for Scoundrels	Roger	Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
2007	The Sasquatch Gang	Lazer Tag Employee	Cameo
2007	Blades of Glory	Jimmy MacElroy	Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Fight Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Dance Scene
2007	Surf's Up	Chicken Joe	Voice
2007	Moving McAllister	Orlie
2007	Mama's Boy	Jeffrey McMannus
2008	Sockbaby 4	Manatu	Short
2010	When in Rome	Lance
2011	Life Happens	Wrong Number Caller	Cameo
2011	Legend of Kung Fu Rabbit	Fu	Voice
2012	For Ellen	Fred Butler
2012	Drained		Producer Short DC Independent Film Festival for Best Experimental/Animation
2012	Peter at the End	Peter	Short
2013	Pororo, The Racing Adventure	Mango	Voice
2013	Killing Winston Jones	Edwin Jones	Post-production
2013	Bud Selig Must Die	Tim	Short Complete
2013	Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede	Oliver Vale
2013	On Top of the World	Russian Cosmonaut	Music video cameo
2014	Reality	Denis
2015	Walt Before Mickey	Roy Disney
2015	The Tiger Hunter	Alex	In post-production
2015	Christmas Eve	James	Also known as Stuck
2015	Huevos: Little Rooster's Egg-cellent Adventure	Mickey Mallard	Voice
2015	A Mouse Tale	Sir Jonas	Voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Robot Chicken	Astronaut Bully's Friend Napoleon Bonamite	Voice Episode: "The Black Cherry"
2008	My Name Is Earl	Joel Malone	Episode: "Girl Earl"
2011	Talking Dead	Himself	Guest
2012	Napoleon Dynamite	Napoleon Dynamite	Voice Main role
2012	Gulliver Quinn	Gulliver Quinn	Pilot
2012	The Aquabats! Super Show!	Eagle Claw	Episode: "Eagle Claw"
2014	How I Met Your Mother	Narshall	Episode: "Vesuvius"
2014	Uncle Grandpa	Kev	Voice Episode: "Viewer Special"
2014	Kroll Show	Himself	Episode: "Blisteritos Presents Dad Academy Graduation Congraduritos Red Carpet Viewing Party"
2014	The Legend of Korra	Ryu/Ryu's Dad	Voice Episode: "Rebirth" Episode: "Beyond the Wilds"
2014	Clarence	Randy	Voice Episode: "Rise 'n' Shine"
2014	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Napoleon Bonafrog	Voice Episode: "The Croaking"
2014	Ben 10: Omniverse	Clyde Five	Voice Episode: "Clyde 5"
2015	Star vs. the Forces of Evil	Oskar	Voice Episode: "Cheer up Star"
2015	Pickle and Peanut	Pickle	Voice Main role[11]

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Woke Up Dead	Drex Greene	Main role
2010	Fact Checkers Unit	Jon	Series regular
2011	Dead Grandma	Series Host	Main role
2014	TableTop	Guest Gamer	Cameo

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two	Seth	Voice
2014	Armikrog	Vognaut	Voice

References

1. Jon Heder profile, FilmReference.com; accessed February 7, 2015.
2. "Jon Heder biography and filmography". Tribute.ca. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
3. "Dan Gross: Vai not big fan of actor/kin" article from Philly.com
4. B. Alan Orange (2007-06-04). "Shia LaBeouf and Jon Heder Compete for Waves in 'Surf's Up'". Movieweb.com. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
5. Owen, Rob (January 12, 2012). "Heder returns as 'Dynamite' gets animated". The Oregonian. p. E1. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
6. "Napoleon Dynamite". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
7. Jon Heder To Star in Electric Farm’s ‘Woke Up Dead’
8. Chris Hicks. Deseret News, February 5, 2010, p. W1
9. "Chromeo - Old 45's". Retrieved February 2015.
10. "Boy Scouts Prepared To Celebrate A Century". National Public Radio. February 6, 2010. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
11. "Greg/Gramma Jail". Pickle and Peanut. Season 1. Episode 1. September 7, 2015. Disney XD.

External links

• Jon Heder on Twitter
• Jon Heder at the Internet Movie Database
• One of Jon Heder's first projects
• Snopes article debunking the myth of his death
• Video and transcript of an interview with Heder
• Jon Heder on The Hour