Jonathan Joseph Heder (/ˈhiːdər/; born October 26, 1977) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his breakout lead role as the title character of the comedy film Napoleon Dynamite (2004). He also voiced the character in the Foxanimated series of the same name (2012).
Heder was born on October 26, 1977, in Fort Collins, Colorado,[1] the son of Helen (née Brammer) and physician James Heder. He has an identical twin brother, Dan;[2] an older sister, Rachel; an older brother, Doug; and two younger brothers, Adam and Matt. He is of Swedish descent,[3] and is a nephew by marriage of former NFL player Vai Sikahema.[4] When he was about two years old, he and his parents moved to Salem, Oregon.[5] He attended Walker Middle School in Salem and graduated from South Salem High School in 1996,[5] where he was a member of the swim team and drama club. He is also an Eagle Scout,[6][7] and served as a Scoutmaster in 2010.[7]
A 2002 alumnus of Brigham Young University, Heder worked on the short animated film Pet Shop. While attending BYU, he befriended Jared Hess and starred in Hess' short film Peluca, which was later expanded into Napoleon Dynamite.
Heder's second turn at voice acting came in 2007 when he voiced Chicken Joe, a surfing chicken, in the animated film Surf's Up. His first foray into web television was the 2008 web series Woke Up Dead, which he produced and starred in. The live-action, sci-fi comedy thriller follows Drex, a USC student who wakes up underwater in the bathtub one morning and suspects he may be dead.[12]
Heder and his twin brother, Dan, star together as villains in the fourth installment of the popular internet martial arts comedy series Sockbaby. Heder'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."[13][14] Heder voiced 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".[15]
In January 2017, Heder reprised his role as Chicken Joe in Surf's Up 2: WaveMania, the direct-to-video sequel to Surf's Up. In 2022, it was announced that Heder would star in the comedy film Plan B, alongside Tom Berenger and Shannon Elizabeth.[16]
Heder served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan, and speaks Japanese fluently.[17]
Heder has been married to Kirsten Bales since 2002, having met her while attending Brigham Young University. They are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have four children.[18][19]
^ abcdefghijklmnopqr"Jon Heder (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 26, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
