Jon Heder became an overnight sensation and gained an instant cult following with his feature film debut in the title role of the offbeat comedy Napoleon Dynamite. Heder's endearing portrayal of the somewhat nerdy high schooler who helps his friend "Pedro" get elected class president was a huge financial success and earned him two MTV Movie Awards, one in the category of Breakthrough Male and a second for Best Musical Performance for his crowd-pleasing election night dance. Heder met Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess while both were studying film at Brigham Young University; the director first cast him in a short film, Peluca.

In spring 2007, Heder starred opposite Will Ferrell in the hit comedy Blades of Glory, which has earned close to $120 million in domestic box office. That same year, Heder also starred in Mama's Boy opposite Diane Keaton and Jeff Daniels. In addition to his live-action roles, Heder also returned to animation that year in Surf's Up, having previously voiced a role in Monster House.

Heder also starred in the feature films The Benchwarmers, School for Scoundrels and Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo.

In addition to his on-screen career, Heder also works with his twin brother Dan, and his older brother Doug, to put projects of their own into development, as both of his brothers studied film at BYU. The trio is focused on developing feature film properties, both live-action and animation (Heder and his twin brother studied computer animation in college).