Casper child star is unrecognisable 29 years after hit film – and starring in legendary horror movies
THIS actor melted hearts in 1995 as Casper the Friendly Ghost – uttering the immortal words ‘can i keep you?’ to Christina Ricci’s Kat.
But fast forward nearly 30 years and it’s clear actor Devon Sawa still hasn’t got sick of saying boo to a ghost or two – or in one case even death itself – in his movies.
Still acting to this day, Devon, 46, has made appearances in everything from iconic music videos to leading horror franchises.
But back at the start of his career, he was known for his brief but pivotal role as the human incarnation of Casper.
Being granted the one wish to dance with Kat at her Halloween party, Casper was allowed a fleeting moment as a real boy rather than the ghostly apparition he had become.
The Canadian star has been acting since he was 14 years old, filming Casper two years later.
Five years later, after a string of other roles, Devon took centre stage as Alex in thriller Final Destination, which sees his character try to evade death after they missed a flight they were supposed to die on.
The same year, he also grew international attention as a crazed superfan in Eminem’s music video for Stan, which topped the UK charts and remained in the Top 40 for 14 weeks.
However, his rise to fame came at a cost, and between the years of 2004 to 2009, he took a break from acting after drinking heavily and becoming burnt out.
Devon has since continued to act, appearing in thriller Nikita on The CW in the US for four seasons between 2010 to 2013, and the Chucky TV series which was act earlier this year.
In 2013, he married his wife, producer Dawni Sahanovitch, and together they have two children – a son named Hudson, 10, and an eight-year-old daughter called Scarlett.
Devon often shares pictures of him enjoying baseball games with his son, with the pair avid supporters of the LA Dodgers.
While his footing remains in thrillers and horror, he’s also branched out into more comedic roles, including a guest appearance in smash-hit comedy Hacks alongside Jean Smart.
In 2020, in an oddly full-circle moment from his character in Stan, he played an actor who was being followed by a stalker in The Fanatic, with John Travolta starring as the troubled fan.
In 2022, Devon admitted that playing Casper had an ongoing affect on his mental health and career, as he struggled to break free of the character.
Speaking to The Independent, he revealed he actively sought more adult roles in order to shake Casper off, and started drinking more.
“I had to smoke pot in movies and I had to be in a hip-hop video. That’s what I felt like I had to do to get away from ‘Can I keep you?’,” he said.
“Everybody wanted to hear, ‘Can I keep you?’ It drove me nuts.”
However, he noted he’s since learned to embrace that part of his past, and the impact it’s had on so many people.
He’s currently scheduled to appear in two upcoming projects next year – slasher Heart Eyes, which will see him in a run-in with a serial killer, and Bunker, a thriller which runs against time as a group try to live underground with limited oxygen.