The Napoleon Dynamite Cast: Where Are They Now?

Heder played the quirky llama-feeding high schooler who enjoys eating tots, drawing “ligers” and perfecting his “skills” (with nunchucks, computer-hacking, etc. — you know, whatever it takes to get a girlfriend). After his turn showing off his sweet moves as the awkward-yet-endearing Napoleon, Heder went on to star in Benchwarmers and Blades of Glory. More recently, he lent his voice to Pickle in the animated series Pickle and Peanut. He’s been married since 2002 to Kristen Heder, and they have four children.

After his turn as the ambitious Pedro — Napoleon’s best friend who ran for (and won) student body president — Ramírez went on to land the role of Catuey in the TV series Eastbound & Down and to act alongside Will Ferrell in 2012’s Casa de mi Padre. More recently, he played Felipe Guillermo Usted in the 2019 series Perpetual Grace, LTD. His film Brothers of Justice is currently in pre-production. 

Deb wasn’t into Napoleon for his “skills” — she was truly the (entrepreneurial) girl next door, who was there all along. Majorino, a child star who got her big break with 1994’s Andre, shifted to the small screen after her role in the breakout indie film, most notably as Cindy ‘Mac’ Mackenzie in Veronica Mars and Heather Tuttle in Big Love. She also played Dr. Heather Brooks in Grey’s Anatomy and starred in Pink’s “F— Perfect” music video in 2011. 

As Napoleon’s older brother, Kip went out of his way to try and make his lil’ bro jealous of his skills when it came to chatting up “babes” online. After his scene-stealing role, Ruell focused on behind-the-camera work, writing and directing 2005’s Everything’s Gone Green before lending his voice to 2012’s Napoleon Dynamite series and acting in the 2017 mini-series Fathers Support Group.

Avery played the one “babe” Kip met online who decided to meet up in real life — and they promptly tied the knot. (Their interaction launched a thousand gifs before gifs were a thing.) Avery continued to act, taking up the role of Candy Taylor in the TV series One on One and reprising it for Cuts a few years later. She’s since appeared in 2016’s Boy Bye and several TV movies, and her movie Abigail is currently in pre-production. 

Napoleon’s nostalgic, morally-ambiguous Uncle Rico swooped in to look after him and Kip after their grandma was injured in an ATV accident, and took over their lives with his footballs and time-machine dreams. Gries had previosly starred in a number of films, including Men in Black, and went on take up the role of Roger Linus in Lost and more recently of Dr. Roberts in Dream Corp LLC. He currently has two movies in pre-production. 

Martin played the sassy, fun-loving Grandma with a pet llama who just wanted Napoleon to fix his own dang quesadillas. Since then, Martin has reunited with her costar Majorino for the TV series Big Love and made a notable appearance as Mac’s mom in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. She also acts in films, including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and contributed voice work to Dumbo. 

Jon Heder previously told PEOPLE, “My favorite scene from the movie has always been the Rex-Kwon-Do scene,” where comedian Bader gives the brothers a lesson in image. Bader ditched the pants but kept up his steady streak of roles, having already appeared on over 200 episodes of The Drew Carey Show as Oswald Lee Harvey from 1995-2004.

After Dynamite made it big (grossing $44 million at the box office), Bader focused largely on voice work, with roles in animated series like Monsters vs. Aliens, Phineas and Ferb and BoJack Horseman. He’s since returned to the screen, with the role of Bill Ericsson in Veep and a turn on American Housewife. 

As Summer, Duff portrayed the quintessential high school mean girl: pretty, popular and particularly shallow. She went on to appear in several music videos and commericals alongside younger sister Hilary Duff before landing the role of Sandy Jameson in 7th Heaven. After acting in a number of TV movies, she starred in her own cooking show, The Real Girl’s Kitchen. Duff went on to release her first cookbook in 2013, and has since welcomed two children with her fiancé Matt Rosenberg.