A lot has happened since the NOW last interviewed actor in 1994.
Back then, he was 16 years old, five-foot-two, 100 pounds – and from Burnaby.
Nowadays, most bios you’ll find online list his hometown as 麻豆传媒映画(we get it; it’s just easier), but he was an Alpha Secondary School student back in 1994, according to a Nov. 9, 1994 story in the NOW archives.
The article is a snapshot of Sawa on the cusp of his first Hollywood iteration as a bonafide tween heartthrob after roles in a trio of iconic ’90s coming-of-age movies: Little Giants (October 1994) Casper the Friendly Ghost (May 1995) and Now and Then (October 1995).
He's now six feet tall, but Sawa in 1994 appeared to have grudgingly resigned himself to his slight stature, which allowed him to play younger characters.
“There are some benefits to being smaller,” he told the NOW. “But, oh well, I’m small. Big deal.”
Besides his time as a teen idol, Sawa is known for hits like supernatural horror film Final Destination (2000) and his portrayal of Stan in rapper .
These days, you can catch Sawa in Chucky, a TV reboot of the Child’s Play film franchise.
It’s not easy to find interviews or bios revealing Sawa’s Burnaby roots, but he doesn’t totally disavow the connection on his Twitter account.
A tweet in February referenced the longstanding rivalry between his alma mater, Alpha, and Burnaby North Secondary.
My grade 8 basketball coach took me aside one time and told me I needed to make a choice. He said you need figure out whether you really wanna run off and join the theater or stay and help beat the North Burnaby Vikings. Every night I ask myself if I made the right decision.
— devon sawa (@DevonESawa)
An earlier 2020 post reminisced about the fries at the Kensington ice rink.
If we’re going with fries not on the list I’d go with my childhood ice skating rink kensington in Burnaby. Fries were cooked a little under in the middle with a crispy exterior. Nothing beat putting your regular running shoes on after a long skate and grabbing those fries.
— devon sawa (@DevonESawa)
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