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Ira Heiden (born September 22, 1966, in New York City, New York) is an American actor, producer, and voice actor. He is best known for his role as Will Stanton in the 1987 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and for a recurring role as CIA techie Rick McCarthy in the ABC thriller series Alias. In the Ghostbusters franchise, he voiced the Mini-Pufts and several background ghosts in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021).
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Heiden was born in New York City and later relocated to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. His path into the industry came through an unlikely encounter: manager Marylin Sherman discovered him at a John McEnroe versus Jimmy Connors tennis match. His first Screen Actors Guild credit came through a Pepsi commercial screened in movie theaters.1
Heiden's film debut came with The B.R.A.T. Patrol (1986), followed quickly by Student Exchange (1987). His breakthrough arrived with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), the highest-grossing entry in the original Elm Street series and the third-highest-grossing independent film of 1987, earning $44.8 million domestically. Heiden played Will Stanton, a wheelchair-using patient at Westin Hills psychiatric hospital who discovers his dream power as the "Wizard Master," conjuring physical force in the dream world. The film co-starred Patricia Arquette, Heather Langenkamp, Craig Wasson, and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.2
In 1988, Heiden appeared in two theatrical features: Illegally Yours, a Rob Lowe comedy directed by Peter Bogdanovich, in which he played Andrew Dice; and Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, the feature film starring Cassandra Peterson, in which he played the role of Bo. He later served as a segment producer on Too Macabre: The Making of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (2018), a documentary about the production of that film.1
Other film credits include Zapped Again! (1990), Father of the Bride (1991), The Pros and Cons of Breathing (1993), Dangerous Touch (1994), Timelock (1996), and The Trouble with the Truth (2011).3
On television, Heiden had a recurring role as CIA techie Rick McCarthy in the ABC spy series Alias (2002-2003), appearing in multiple episodes including "Dead Drop," "Passage: Part 2," "A Higher Echelon," "The Getaway," "Phase One," "Double Agent," and "Salvation." He has also made guest appearances on Family Ties, Step by Step, and Family Matters.3
Heiden's connection to Ghostbusters: Afterlife came through a personal friendship with director Jason Reitman: the two had played broomball together in Culver City. When Heiden heard that Reitman was directing a Ghostbusters film, he reached out by email and was invited to participate in the production.4
His initial session involved ADR (Additional Dialogue Recording) work voicing frightened background civilians and screaming ghosts, including entities emerging from the rift in the climactic sequences. During that session, it became clear there was additional work to be done, and Heiden was then brought in to voice several of the Mini-Pufts, the small, mischievous marshmallow creatures who appear throughout the film. Among the specific Mini-Pufts he gave voice to: one on a grill that salivates and reacts to the heat, one aboard a Roomba that bumps into Gary Grooberson (played by Paul Rudd), and one that consumes a green jelly bean and expels it. Heiden described the entire ADR experience as "three and a half to four hours of pure fun."4
Official Site of Ira Heiden, "Bio & Filmography," iraheiden.com, accessed June 2026. ↩ ↩2
Wikipedia, "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors," accessed June 2026. ↩
IMDb, "Ira Heiden," imdb.com/name/nm0373934/, accessed June 2026. ↩ ↩2
JoBlo, "Ghostbusters: Afterlife features voice work by Ira Heiden of Dream Warriors," joblo.com, 2021; Bloody Disgusting, "A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors Actor Ira Heiden Voiced the Mini-Pufts in Ghostbusters: Afterlife," 2021. ↩ ↩2
