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Who is Jon Heder?
American actor Jonathan Joseph Heder was born in Fort Collins, Colorado USA, on 26 October 1977, making Scorpio his zodiac sign. He has 90 acting credits, but is probably still known best for starring as Napoleon Dynamite in the 2004 comedy movie “Napoleon Dynamite”, which also starred Efren Ramirez and Jon Gries, and was written and directed by Jared Hess. It follows an alienated teenager as he’s helping his friend become the class president; the film won 10 of its 33 award nominations.
Unlike what’s widely believed to be true, Jon hasn’t quit acting; he’s still highly active in the film industry, and is currently shooting for four upcoming movies, including “Relatively Super”, “Killing Winston Jones” and “Plan B”.
Education and early life
Jon was raised in Fort Collins alongside his identical twin brother Dan and their four other siblings, by their father James Heder who was a physician, and mother Helen (nee Brammer) who was a housewife. The family’s of Swedish descent.
Jon was two when he and his family moved to Salem, Oregon where he attended Walker Middle School; he continued his education at South Salem High School, matriculating in 1996. He was passionate about acting during his time at South Salem, appearing in numerous school plays, and was also on the school’s swim team. Jon’s today an Eagle Scout, and the year 2010 saw him serve as a Scoutmaster.
He enrolled at Brigham Young University in 1998, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in 2002.
Roles in movies
Jon’s debut film role was playing Officer Hardy in the 2000 short drama “Funky Town”, and some of his following roles were in the 2000 short comedy “The Wrong Brother”, the 2003 short comedy “Peluca”, and the 2004 short action comedy “Sockbaby”.
He portrayed Darryl in the hit 2005 fantasy comedy “Just Like Heaven”, which starred Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, and was directed by Mark Waters. It follows a lonely landscape architect who’s fallen in love with the spirit of a deceased woman who used to live in his apartment, and the movie won one of its two award nominations. Some of Jon’s notable performances in the remainder of the decade were in the 2006 sports comedy “The Benchwarmers”, the 2007 comedy “Mama’s Boy” and the 2010 romantic comedy “When in Rome”.
The year 2011 heard him voice the lead character Fu in the animated action adventure “Legend of Kung Fu Rabbit”, and in 2014, he played Dennis in the comedy “Reality”, which starred Alain Chabat and Jonathan Lambert, and was written and directed by Quentin Dupieux. It follows the life of a wanna-be film director, and the movie won two of its six award nominations.
Some of Jon’s most recent film roles have been in the animated family adventure “My Sweet Monster” (voice role), the romantic family comedy “Funny Thing About Love”, and the animated family fantasy “Pinocchio: A True Story” (voice role), all released in 2021.
Roles in TV series
Jon’s debut TV series role was voicing Napoleon Bonamite in the 2005 episode “The Black Cherry” of the hit short animated adventure “Robot Chicken”, and the year 2009 saw him star as Drex Greene in all 22 episodes of the horror comedy mini-series “Woke Up Dead”, which also starred Krysten Ritter and Josh Gad, and was created by John Fasano. It follows a college graduate who’s gone from being nobody to a zombie-killing hero, and the film was nominated for one award.
The year 2010 saw Jon star in the comedy “FCU: Fact Checkers Unit”, and the following year saw him star in the comedy “Dead Grandma”. From 2015 through 2018, he voiced the lead character Pickle in the short animated adventure “Pickle and Peanut”, which starred Johnny Pemberton and Joel Trussell, and was created by Noah Jones. It follows the lives of two best friends, a freewheeling peanut and an emotional pickle – the series won one of its five award nominations.
Jon’s most recent TV series roles have been voicing Gus in the 2020 episode “Lake Ball Pit/The Poppy Corn Festival” of the short animated adventure “Archibald’s Next Big Thing”, and voicing Thackery Von Bullion in two episodes of the 2023 animated science fiction comedy “Space Junk”.
‘Space Junk’: Dominic Russo, Jon Heder & Tony Cavalero Team on Toonstar Adult Animated Comedy With AI-Voiced Character https://t.co/nHCTBK6rL9
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) April 25, 2023
Other credits
Jon has nine producing credits, which include the 2012 short animated film “Drained”, the 2012 action family comedy movie “Gulliver Quinn”, and the 2020 horror movie “The 100 Candles Game”.
Some of his recent talk-show appearances have been in “Celebrity Page”, “Modern Dadhood” and “Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum”.
Awards and nominations
Jon’s won eight of his 25 award nominations; these wins include a 2005 Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Dance Scene, for “Napoleon Dynamite”, a 2005 MTV Movie Breakthrough Male Award, also for “Napoleon Dynamite” and a 2016 Utah Film Festival Jury Prize for Best Supporting Actor, for “Wildlife”.
Love life and wife
Jon’s highly secretive when it comes to speaking about his love life in public, and we only know about a single woman whom he’s been with – he met his future wife, non-celebrity American Kirsten Bales while studying at Brigham Young University, and they married in a private ceremony on 23 November 2002. Kirsten’s worked as a production assistant on three movies: the 2003 war action “Saints and Soldiers”, the 2006 animated family comedy “Monster House”, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year, and the 2007 romantic adventure comedy “Moving McAllister”.
Kirsten gave birth to their daughter Evan Jane on 6 April 2007, and their sons Philip and Timothy followed in the next five years; it’s rumored that they also have a fourth child, but this hasn’t been confirmed.
Jon and Kirsten are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Jon loves Japan and is fluent in Japanese.
He occasionally works as a computer animator, as his major at Brigham Young University was 3D animation.
Jon loves the ‘70s music and clothes, and his favorite band is Led Zeppelin.
He loves to watch the animated series “Futurama”.
Jon’s followed by over 80,000 people on Instagram, and has posted nearly 500 pictures and videos, with most showing him spending time with his friends and family.
One of his favorite actors is Bill Murray, and some of his favorite movies include “What About Bob?”, “Quick Change” and “St. Vincent”.
Height, eyes and wealth
Jon’s age is 45. He has blue eyes and brown hair, is 6ft 1in (1.85m) tall and weighs around 180lbs (82kgs).
Jon’s net worth’s been estimated at over $10 million, as of August 2023.
