Few child stars from the 1990s have aged as well as Devon Sawa, both in terms of his personal life since, plus his career. The actor first started working at the age of just 14 being an action toy spokesman, before making his film debut in 1994's Little Giants. He followed that up the year after by playing Casper the friendly ghost in his human form, Casper McFadden, opposite Christina Ricci in 1995's Casper. The film was a box office smash, spawning an entire film franchise and turning Devon into a '90s heartthrob.
The star's career continued well into the '90s and 2000s, earning another surprise success in 2000 with the first of the Final Destination films, another box office success that sparked a franchise that continues to this day. But what has Devon been up to since his '90s and aughts' heyday? Take a look at the star's life now, from continued work to his family life…
© Alamy Stock PhotoDevon's career now
Now 47, the actor experienced a lull in his career in the 2000s and early 2010s, with films like Slackers, Extreme Ops and Extreme Dating emerging as duds. He parlayed his career then into a variety of direct-to-video roles, with a majority of them being in horror and slasher films. He also worked extensively in TV, most notably playing Owen Elliot/Sam Matthews in the action thriller Nikita for four seasons.
His career experienced a resurgence in the 2020s, however, as he started to play a variety of roles in the Syfy series Chucky between 2021 to 2024, earning acclaim and renewed recognition in the horror genre. That continued with his role just earlier this year in the romantic comedy slasher Heart Eyes, co-starring Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding, that was a surprise critical and commercial hit.
© Getty ImagesSpeaking with the New York Times recently, the actor reflected on his popular earlier work and his complicated relationship with it. "There was a certain amount of years I just didn't want to talk about it anymore," he noted of some films like Casper. "Now, I've come to peace with it. It's never going to go away."
© Getty ImagesDevon's personal life
In 2013, the Now and Then star tied the knot with Canadian producer Dawni Sahanovitch. The couple are still very much together, and are the proud parents of son Hudson, now 11, and daughter Scarlett, now nine. The actor will still frequently share glimpses of life as a dad and family man on his social media page, although will also devote much of his online presence to cheering on his favorite baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays.
In his conversation with NYT, Devon noted that he struggled with growing up in the spotlight, turning to a life of partying to make the transition to an adult quicker, also struggling with addiction for a few years before meeting his now-wife. "I had a fake ID, and no one looked twice," he recalled of frequently hitting up clubs in Los Angeles as soon as he turned 18.
© Getty Images"I would roll into those places in my pajamas. There's no cellphones, so no one could record anything, and everything was going on in those clubs at the time," he continued. After showing up to sets hungover on more than one occasion, he was encouraged to move back to Canada and seek treatment. "Finally, like the saying goes, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired."
