Teen Heartthrob in Decline: Devon Sawa

Ariana Nisan 29, 2022

Devon Sawa. Canadian. Blond. Adequate actor. Blessed with the face of an angel...or so it seemed, many, many moons ago. I'm not saying that he lost his looks but he definitely misplaced them.

Role: Junior Floyd--quarterback for the ragtag, underdog Little Giants pee-wee football team and object of Becky "the Icebox" O'Shea's affection.

I'm America's leading Little Giants scholar. Unlike anyone else in the history of the world, I watched this movie 50 thousand times when I was 11. Seriously. I'd finish the video tape, rewind it, and watch it again. I wish I could attribute this behavior to insatiable Devon Sawa fanaticism because that would be normal and understandable and socially acceptable. But I really just wanted to marry Rick Moranis, who played the Little Giants' coach/all-around sexy man.

Even though Sawa wasn't my type--meaning he wasn't a diminutive, bespectacled man, older than my mother--I could understand the appeal. (1) He'd mastered the ubiquitous 90s-center-hair part (2) he had a big mouth--good for Frenching and (3) he had that whole fresh-scrubbed, all-American vibe going on--which is kind of amazing, considering he was Canadian. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, I wouldn't have tacked a photo of him up on my bedroom wall but I also wouldn't have written any strongly-worded letters to BOP or Tiger Beat demanding fewer Devon Sawa centerfolds.

Role: Non-dead incarnation of Casper "the friendly ghost" who shows up in the last couple of minutes of the movie to smooch Christina Ricci and blow everyone's mind with his ethereal, pre-teen hotness.

Casper secured Devon Sawa's place in the annals of heartthrob-dom. He was so transcendently cute that I probably wouldn't have even noticed Rick Moranis, had Rick Moranis been in this movie. Was Rick Moranis in this movie?

When you watch the five minutes in which Devon appears, you'll notice what seems to be bright, artificial lighting, illuminating him. What most people don't know is that this isn't artificial lighting at all! It is, in fact, Devon Sawa's natural glow, emanating from his body, enveloping him like the heavenly creature that he is.

With Casper, he'd officially achieved dreamboat status. And I officially need to stop talking about it because I'm officially creeping myself out.

Role: I don't even know. Never saw it. But I do recall thousands of photo spreads about the movie in the teeny bopper magazines that I was trying to ween myself off of. In the end, Wild America was just an excuse to put Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Devon Sawa in the same movie--the teeny bopper equivalent of the Robert DeNiro-Al Pacino pairing in Heat.

Although he'd made significant strides in his 90s-center-hair part, he'd begun to age--a definite teen heartthrob no-no.

Don't get me wrong, he was still cute and if he'd gone to my high school, I'm sure I would have had a low-key crush on him. But I don't know. Like, I could maybe see him on the top right corner of Big Bopper magazine at this point but his Tiger Beat cover days were behind him for sure.

Role: High school student who has a premonition about a plane explosion/the reason why I always check the latch on the tray table in front of me when flying.

Uh...

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, for realz. Eh, I think the David Schwimmer-inspired, gelled-up hairdo has a lot to do with the decline. Anyway, Devon would've been about 22 here and when I was 22 I probably looked a lot like him--except browner and female-er. So, I'm not gonna hate or anything. But this guy used to be Casper (!) and it sort of breaks my heart to see the transformation. To me, Devon Sawa's face in Final Destination is emblematic of how insanely depressing aging is and proof of why you should never show anyone photos of yourself when you were 11--you were totally hotter back then and you don't want people making any comparisons.

For men, though, something kind of magical can happen when they reach their 30s. I call this the "Jason Bateman Anomaly." Just think about Jason Bateman in Teen Wolf Too. Now, think about Jason circa Arrested Development...way cuter, right? I found this recent photo of Devon Sawa: