By now if you know who John Heder is, and many do, you’ll recognize him as the guy that played Napoleon Dynamite and simply turned the teenage movie scene upside down. It’s hard to imagine after watching the film how people just went nuts for it, but it did happen and his career saw a hug upswing from that point on. He’s appeared in a bunch of different films, TV shows, and even taken on voice acting as one of his talents in the years following his big breakthrough.
Napoleon Dynamite was just the beginning of his career.
For being taken from a short film this movie really took off. It had a lot of memorable characters that people identified with and the story itself was something that a lot of folks could look at and state that it was like watching a moment in their life. In many ways Napoleon Dynamite was the every-kid, the guy that gets picked on, overlooked, and just about forgotten in the long run. But somehow he manages to get his life on the kind of fast track that finally works out for him and begins to reveal that not all is as bleak as he thought it was. Ah yes, being a teenager is so much fun, in so many disappointing ways, and this film kind of highlighted a lot of them. But overall it was a movie that allowed him to show off the kind of acting talent he really has.
He’s well known for his role in The Benchwarmers as well.
This was another role that a lot of people can identify with. It was a bit more controversial in nature but thanks to the effort of making this film a comedy it was more widely accepted as something both insanely humorous and valuable as a life lesson. Clark was one of the biggest rejects when it came to organized sports but at the very least he learned how to play the game and finally how to enjoy it. There are a lot of kids that can possibly relate to the character of Clark in the movie since they aren’t really inclined to play sports but still like them well enough to watch them. Despite being a goofy movie it was kind of inspiring in a way, but it did seem as though Heder’s career was hitting a plateau around this time.
His voice acting has been exceptional over the last several years
John’s given his voice to several characters over the years but one stands out among them all and that’s Chicken Joe from Surf’s Up. Starring along with Shia LaBeouf, James Woods, Jeff Bridges, and a few others Heder managed to put in a performance that was nothing short of comical since Chicken Joe is a very stereotypical surfer character that loves to just hang out and have a good time while getting his surf on. Nothing seems to bother this chicken and for all intents and purposes he’s kind of a moron, but blissfully unaware moron. Even when a band of wild penguins wants to cook and eat him Joe can only think of having a good time and looking for his friend Cody, who’s played by LaBeouf. Heder came back for the second movie that was made and has been voice-acting for a while now. In fact he’s gotten pretty good at it.
As far as live action he hasn’t done a whole lot in the recent past but he has made a very strong appearance as a voice actor and it’s been serving him well. His voice is just the right kind of pitch and tone for a lot of characters and tends to be considered as somewhat versatile for a wide array of needs. On screen as a live action character Heder has shown that he can differentiate between his characters, but behind the scenes he’s just as good and in far more demand it would seem. All those articles stating why Hollywood won’t cast this or that actor any longer are slightly ridiculous since a lot of them tend to take time off and then make an attempt to come back. Some are successful and some aren’t, but some also go on to other projects and ways of life that are hard to understand but are still their passions and need to be respected.
Heder being a voice actor at this point is still something that makes a good deal of sense consider that it keeps him acting but also keeps him away from the public eye for the most part. It might be that he prefers it this way or it might be something else, but at the very least he’s been doing an awesome job.
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