DEVON WERKHEISER
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Devon Werkheiser knew his destiny early on. Reenacting the entire Ace Ventura Pet Detective movie with exact dialogue and accents at age six, he exhibited a performing gene and photographic memory that prompted his parents to enroll him in the Atlanta community childrens theatre/acting school, The Talent Factory. A leading player in the company for three years, he played the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, the emperor in The Emperors New Clothes, Baby Bear in Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Devil in Halloween at Boo Castle. Concurrently he kicked off a career in commercials, first appearing with Charles Barkley for the NBA on TBS/TNT. At age 10, Devon landed the part of Mel Gibsons son in the Ft. Benning, Georgia-filmed feature We Were Soldiers and thrived on the experience. The following year he was cast as John Larroquette and Lesley Ann Warren's son in the independent film/video release Recipe for Disaster. But his biggest coup came on the day he arrived in Los Angeles for pilot season 2003, when he clinched the title role in Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. Devon aims to back-pocket a few nuggets of his alter ego Ned Bigby's wisdom while navigating the hurdle-filled halls of TV's James K. Polk Middle School. The 14-year-old actor from Atlanta and straight-A student figures he can pull them out to his advantage when he returns to high school in the fall of 2005. Off-camera, Devon enjoys playing one of his three guitars, jamming with friends, listening to "pretty much all kinds of music, going to the movies and playing X-Box. He's hooked on the Harry Potter book series and The Family Guy. The goal-oriented teen aspires someday to win an Oscar and to appear on Saturday Night Live. Devon and his family -- 16-year-old sister Vanessa, dad Gary who works as a commercial real estate exec, and mom Valerie who accompanies Devon in all his acting endeavors -- currently split their time between Atlanta and Los Angeles. |