Devon Sawa has finally embraced the ghost that made him famous.
The 48-year-old Canadian actor spent decades actively resisting his teen heartthrob legacy from 1995’s Casper, he admitted in an interview. Sawa, who appeared briefly in the flesh during the film’s emotional climax, once refused to discuss the cameo that turned him into a ’90s pop-culture fixture.
“There was a time in my life I was like, ‘I don’t wanna talk about Casper. How dare you? I’m a thespian,’ you know?” Sawa said, reflecting on his early career mindset. He sought grittier roles in films like Idle Hands and Final Destination as he moved past teen stardom, but the nostalgia proved relentless.
The fantasy classic, directed by Brad Silberling and starring Christina Ricci as Kat Harvey and Bill Pullman as her paranormal therapist father, grossed nearly $291 million worldwide. While the titular friendly ghost remained a CGI creation for most of the runtime, Sawa appeared in the flesh during the climax, granted temporary reprieve from the afterlife to share a slow dance with Kat at a Halloween party and whisper four words that became immortal: “Can I keep you?”
That scene made Sawa an instant fixture, yet the association became a professional burden as he aged out of the heartthrob mold. He actively avoided discussing the role, treating commercial success as something that undermined his credibility as a serious performer.
Time changed his perspective. With the film celebrating its enduring popularity through a 30th-anniversary theatrical re-release, Sawa has abandoned his former resistance entirely.
“Doesn’t matter what I do nowadays. It doesn’t matter how cool the project is, I will always have to say, ‘Can I keep you?’ to somebody at some point,” he explained. “There will always be Casper stuff… But I gotta embrace it. It’s why I’m here. It’s what got me here.”
Now Sawa is deliberately stepping back into supernatural territory. He stars in Coven Academy, a Disney series set at a magical New Orleans boarding school, playing warlock professor Mr. Cole alongside Tiffani Thiessen. Rather than fearing another indelible association, he welcomes the possibility.
“I think [Coven Academy] is going to be one of those [shows] that hopefully in 20 years, people will be like, ‘Oh, Mr. Cole.’ And I won’t be able to shake that either,” he said.
Coven Academy is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.