Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Sawa began working in theater at age 10. Soon after, he landed work in TV commercials before becoming a regular on the Canadian teen TV series "Kidzone" and appearing in a small role in the 1993 syndicated TV-movie "Sherlock Holmes Returns". Sawa's first meaty small screen role was as John Schneider's son battling tornadoes in "Night of the Twisters" (USA Network, 1996). That same year, he played a prep school computer wizard forced to battle his nemesis in archery in "Robin of Locksley" (Showtime, 1996), a twist on the Robin Hood story. Other feature films include "Now and Then" (1995), as Scott Wormser, the annoying teen who then becomes quite useful, and "The Boy's Club" (1996), in which he played a rather troubled teen.