Devon Sawa is an actor known for his role as Stan in the iconic music video of the rapper of the same name, Eminem. The Canadian, who began his career when he was still a teenager, is also known for his role in films like Little Giants, Now and Then, Casper, Wild America, SLC Punk! and Night of the Twisters. He also starred in the comedy and horror movie Idle Hands alongside Jessica Alba.
Devon has received a number of award nominations for his work, including two Saturn Award nominations for best performance by a younger actor, of which he won one; a Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination for favorite actor in the horror category; and a Young Artist Award nomination for best performance in a TV movie/mini-series.
Devon Sawa background and Teen Idol Years
Devon Sawa was born on September 7, 1978, in Vancouver, British Columbia, to middle-class parents named Edward and Joyce Sawa. His father, who was a mechanic, is of Polish origin, while his mother can best be described as a racial melting pot. He is the last of their three children.
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As a young boy, Devon fell in love with the performing arts and began a career in this field, becoming the face of a children’s action toy brand in 1992. He then appeared in the film Little Giants before making his professional breakthrough with a role in Casper as a human boy. He then played in Now and Then as a city scoundrel named Scott Wormer alongside Christina Ricci.
By the mid-1990s Devon Sawa had become a teen idol. Other movies he appeared in during this period were Night of the Twisters (1996), The Boys Club (1997), Wild America (1997), A Cool, Dry Place (1998), SLC Punk! (1998), Idle Hands (1999) and Final Destination (2000).
Although he was more active on the big screen during his teenage star years, Devon also had a few memorable roles on the small screen. He starred in an episode of Unsub and several others in The Odyssey, as well as in television movies such as Night of the Twisters and Robin of Locksley in 1996.
Hiatus From The Spotlight
Devon Sawa’s career seemed to be developing into a very big career, but with time it seemed that the actor was struggling with the transition to the next level. In 2003, he was so overwhelmed that he decided to take a break from the entertainment business. Before that, in 2000, he played the character of the same name in Eminem’s Stan music video, a role that will remain in his memory forever because the song became so important in the pop culture scene.
In 2002 Devon starred in films such as Slackers and Extreme Ops. Although he did not actively audition for roles from 2003, when he decided to take a break, some projects he had done before were released during this time. These include Shooting Gallery (2005) and Devil’s Den (2006).
Devon Sawa’s return to acting and his recent ventures
Towards the end of the 2000s, Devon Sawa slowly began to act again. He had told US Weekly that he was not sure if he would return to acting, but he realized that acting was his true vocation after an agent accidentally sent him an invitation to audition for a role.
Devon accepted the invitation but did not get the role, but this experience proved to be enough to rekindle his passion for acting. In 2010 he managed to land the recurring role of Owen Elliott in the CW action-thriller series Nikita. His role was finally updated to that of a regular series two years later at the beginning of season three, allowing him to appear in the series until the end of the series in December 2013.
While he was starring in Nikita, Devon Sawa was able to appear in a number of movies in his spare time. These include 388 Arletta Avenue (2011), The Philly Kid (2012) and A Resurrection (2013). After Nikita, he appeared in the TV movie Broad Squad and starred in films such as The Exorcism of Molly Hartley (2015), which was released directly on video, Life on the Line (2015) and Punk’s Dead (2016).
Devon’s next big TV role was Nico Jackson in Somewhere Between, a series that unfortunately was short-lived as it was canceled after a season in 2017. Since then the actor has continued to be active in Hollywood, appearing in the films Escape Plan: The Extractors and the psychological thriller The Fanatic in 2019.
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Details about his family
Sometime in the early 2010s, after the actor returned to acting, Devon Sawa began dating Dawni Sahanovitch, a producer of the Canadian Bachelor Show. The lovebirds later decided to exchange their marriage vows but managed to keep information about the ceremony out of the public eye. Nobody except family and friends knows exactly when they got married, but some publications have listed it as 2013.
The couple seem to be very much in love and their union has already been blessed with two children; a son and a daughter named Hudson and Scarlett respectively. Both Devon and Dawni constantly post pictures of their beautiful family on their respective social media sites.