A little about Jon Heder, the guy who played Napoleon Dynamite

Date of Birth

26 October 1977, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Birth Name

Jonathan Joseph Heder

Height

6' 1" (1.85 m)

Spouse

Kirsten Heder

(23 November 2002 - present) 1 child

Trivia

He is a graduate of South Salem High School, Salem, Oregon.

He has a twin brother, Daniel, 3 other brothers and an oldest sister.

Attends Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. [2004]

He is heavily into 1970s clothes, music, etc.

Loves "Futurama" (1999) and Led Zeppelin.

When he was "Punk'd" (2003), his twin brother, Dan Heder and close friend Darrin E. Lile were the accomplices.

Grew up in a family of six children.

His father is an MD in practice in West Salem, Oregon whose office sports a large poster of Jon in Napoleon Dynamite (2004).

Speaks fluent Japanese.

Auditioned for Zathura.

A stock photo of Jon appears on the box cover of Screenlife's "Quip It!" board game. According to Screenlife, "The image on the font of the Quip It! game box was picked from a variety of stock model photos because it best captured the attitude of this fun, irreverent game. Surprisingly, at the time the image was selected, the design team did not know the image was Jon Heder. That just happens to be an ironic twist since the image was selected merely to convey the reaction people get when they see the visual puzzles and read out Quips during the game."

Spent two years in Japan on the traditional proselytizing mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

His father Jim is the older brother of WCAU sportscaster Vai Sikahema's wife, Keala.

Jon and his wife, Kirsten, met at Brigham Young University.

Nephew of former All Pro Philadelphia Eagles Punt Returner and now NBC/WCAU-TV Philadelphia Sportscaster, Vai Sikahema through his current wife.

Jon and Kirsten became the parents of a girl, Evan Jane Heder, born April 6, 2007.

Personal Quotes

"If I look back at the scripts I received after Napoleon Dynamite (2004), I think the town thought I had multiple personalities that were all a variation of that character. They probably just thought of me as someone their kids liked, but was more like the goofy kid that asked to mow their lawn, not a professional actor".

"I don't think I ever will do a sex scene because of my religion and my personal standards. Coming into this business has opened up many doors where I'm constantly making a decision on each project. I'll never do a sex scene where you see a man and a woman lie on the bed and the camera is still there with the naked actors in your face. I won't show the act of it on screen."

"It's tough now, because am I like an ambassador (for Mormonism) now? I was representing the church on my mission, and now I'm representing the church again in some ways. Sometimes I downplay it. 'I'm a Mormon. This is what Mormons do.' That's not my thing. I want to get up there and tell entertaining stories but that are also to a certain extent clean."