Devon Sawa: Agents Told Me to Quit Acting & Move Back to Canada

Lauren Novak October 23, 11:47 am

WILD AMERICA, Devon Sawa, 1997 — Everett Collection

What To Know

Devon Sawa rose to fame in the 1990s but struggled with substance abuse, leading his agents to advise him to quit acting and return to Canada for recovery.
His addiction issues caused professional setbacks, including being excluded from the Final Destination sequel and facing legal troubles.
After achieving sobriety in Vancouver, Sawa rebuilt his life and career, returning to Hollywood and landing roles in projects like Hacks and Twisted Metal.

Devon Sawa was once the crush of nearly every ’90s preteen — famous for asking Christina Ricci, “Can I keep you?” in Casper, and becoming the boy-next-door dream in Now and Then. He started popping up on the cover of every teen magazine, and seemed destined for a long career in Hollywood. But as his fame rose, his personal life took a darker turn that made him step away from acting — in fact, his agents urged him to give up on Hollywood and return to his home town in order to get a handle on his substance abuse issues.

By the late ’90s, Sawa had moved into edgier projects like Idle Hands, the first Final Destination and even Eminem‘s iconic “Stan” music video. Behind the scenes, though, he was struggling. After moving to Los Angeles at just 18, he dove into the nightlife with a family history of addiction. “I had a fake ID, and no one looked twice. I would roll into those places in my pajamas. There’s no cellphones, so no one could record anything, and everything was going on in those clubs at the time,” he recalled in a new New York Times interview. He began drinking heavily and focusing more on partying than working.

Everett Collection

The consequences followed quickly. He wasn’t asked back for the Final Destination sequel because “they thought I might be a liability,” he admitted. Showing up hungover to sets and facing legal trouble, he reached a breaking point when his agency stepped in. “Acting was always what I was going to do for the rest of my life — until it wasn’t,” Sawa said. He said his agents told him to quit acting and move back to Canada to get help.

Back home in Vancouver, he started the long process of recovery. He had tried treatment before, but the real turning point came after showing up drunk to a family Christmas. “I crawled into 90 meetings in 90 days on my own. Finally, like the saying goes, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired,” he added.

Momentum Pictures/Everett Collection

That choice gave him a second chance. Years later, after he got sober and turned his life around, he decided to come back to Hollywood. In recent years, he has appeared in several major projects, including Hacks, Murder in a Small Town and Twisted Metal. He now lives with his wife, Dawni and their two kids in Bell Canyon.