Napoleon Dynamite Trivia
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49 free Napoleon Dynamite trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
48 free Napoleon Dynamite trivia questions with answers. Napoleon Dynamite cost $400,000, paid its star $1,000, and became one of the most quoted comedies of the 2000s. This Napoleon Dynamite trivia quiz covers the film front to back: Preston, Idaho and the Hess family, the BYU short Peluca, Kip and his internet girlfriend from Detroit, Uncle Rico's van and his football, Pedro's campaign, Deb's boondoggle keychains, Rex Kwon Do, Tina the llama and the Jamiroquai dance that ate half the budget. It also covers what happened around the movie: the Sundance pickup, the Elvis Costello name coincidence, the actors who almost played Uncle Rico, the MTV Movie Awards, the six-episode Fox cartoon, the Burger King tots ad and the 20th-anniversary restoration. Roughly a third of the questions are quotes anyone who has seen it will get, a third need a rewatch, and the rest are for people who know who designed the opening credits. Every answer is checked against a cited source shown beneath the question. Gosh.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which state is Napoleon Dynamite set and filmed?
Idaho
The film is set and shot in Preston, Idaho, the director's hometown near the Utah border; locals fed and housed the crew during the 2003 shoot.
Q 02Who directed Napoleon Dynamite?
Jared Hess
Jared Hess directed it as his first feature, co-writing the script with his wife Jerusha Hess; the couple later made Nacho Libre and Gentlemen Broncos.
Q 03What was the film's budget?
$400,000
The film was made for about $400,000, raised largely by producer Jeremy Coon, and shot in the director's hometown over a few weeks in 2003.
Q 04Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide?
$46 million
Napoleon Dynamite grossed about $46 million worldwide, most of it in North America, after opening in only a handful of cinemas in June 2004.
Q 05What was the title of the short film the movie grew out of?
Peluca
Peluca, a nine-minute black-and-white student short starring Heder as a nerd named Seth, screened at the Slamdance festival in 2003.
Q 06Heder and the director met as film students where?
Brigham Young
Heder and the film's director met as film students at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where the director made the student short that grew into the feature.
Q 07How much was Jon Heder originally paid for playing Napoleon?
$1,000
Jon Heder was paid $1,000 for the shoot; after the film's success he renegotiated and received a share of the profits.
Q 08Which studio picked the film up at its January 2004 festival premiere?
Fox Searchlight
Fox Searchlight bought the film after its January 2004 festival premiere, with Paramount and MTV Films taking the international release; it opened in North American cinemas that June.
Q 09What is the name of Napoleon's older brother?
Kip
Kipland Ronald Dynamite chats online with babes all day and dreams of fighting professionally.
Q 10Kip's internet girlfriend LaFawnduh travels from which city?
Detroit
LaFawnduh comes from Detroit, Michigan; she gives her boyfriend an urban makeover and Napoleon a mixtape, and the two of them leave town together on a bus.
Q 11Pedro is a transfer student from which city?
Juárez
Pedro Sánchez has just transferred from Juárez, Mexico; he runs for class president and, complaining that his head got too hot, shaves it himself.
Q 12How does Grandma Carlinda injure herself?
A quad bike accident
Her broken tailbone is what brings Uncle Rico and his camper van to town.
Q 13What does Uncle Rico drive?
A 1975 Dodge Tradesman van
Uncle Rico drives and sleeps in an orange 1975 Dodge Tradesman van, which he parks outside the Dynamite house while he looks after the boys.
Q 21Whose idea was the film's opening titles written on plates of food and a tube of ChapStick?
Aaron Ruell
Aaron Ruell, the photographer who plays Napoleon's brother, devised the title sequence, with the credits written on plates of food and other objects including a tube of ChapStick.
Q 22How many MTV Movie Awards did the film win in 2005?
Three
It won three: Best Movie, Breakthrough Male Performance for Heder and Best Musical Performance for his dance, at a ceremony run by the network whose film arm co-released it.
Q 23Where did Napoleon Dynamite land on Bravo's list of the 100 funniest films?
Number 14
Entertainment Weekly separately ranked Napoleon #88 among the 100 greatest characters of the previous 20 years.
Q 14Which song does Napoleon dance to at the school assembly?
'Canned Heat' by Jamiroquai
Napoleon dances to Jamiroquai's 1999 single 'Canned Heat' at the election assembly, a routine Heder performed in only a handful of takes.
Q 15Summer Wheatly performs her election skit to which song?
'Larger than Life' by Backstreet Boys
The skit is a dance routine to the Backstreet Boys' 1999 hit 'Larger than Life', performed with her friends; Napoleon's solo for Pedro follows it.
Q 16What does Napoleon draw for Trisha to ask her to the dance?
A portrait of her
Napoleon draws a portrait of Trisha, boasting about how long the shading on her upper lip took him; the drawing comes with a note asking her to the dance.
Q 17Napoleon tastes milk samples for defects at which competition?
A Future Farmers of America contest
Napoleon competes in a Future Farmers of America contest, tasting milk samples and declaring that one 'tastes like the cow got into an onion patch'.
Q 18What is the name of the instructional videotape Napoleon buys?
D-Qwon's Dance Grooves
Napoleon buys a thrift-store tape called D-Qwon's Dance Grooves and practises its moves in his bedroom, grumbling that it is 'pretty much the worst video ever made'.
Q 19Which musician had used the name 'Napoleon Dynamite' as a pseudonym years before the film?
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello used 'Napoleon Dynamite' as a pseudonym on his 1986 album Blood & Chocolate; the director says he took the name from an elderly man he met in Cicero, Illinois.
Q 20Which comedy veteran shot all his scenes as martial arts instructor Rex in a single day?
Diedrich Bader
Diedrich Bader, best known from The Drew Carey Show and Office Space, played Rex, whose Rex Kwon Do classes come with the order 'Bow to your sensei'.
Q 24The big assembly routine was written because the filmmakers knew what about Jon Heder?
He liked to dance
The filmmakers knew Heder liked to dance and wrote the assembly routine to make use of it; the dance itself was improvised rather than choreographed.
Q 25What does Napoleon ride to arrive late at Kip's wedding?
A stallion
Napoleon turns up late on a wild stallion he has tamed as a wedding present, and the newlyweds ride off on it in the post-credits scene.
Q 26Who plays Deb, the shy girl who sells glamour shots and knick-knacks for college?
Tina Majorino
Tina Majorino, a former child actress from Waterworld and Corrina, Corrina, plays Deb; the role restarted her career and led to Veronica Mars and Big Love.
Q 27Who plays Uncle Rico?
Jon Gries
Jon Gries plays Uncle Rico; he had been Lazlo Hollyfeld in Real Genius (1985) and went on to play Ben's father Roger Linus on Lost.
Q 28Napoleon describes which animal as 'pretty much my favorite animal ... bred for its skills in magic'?
A liger
A liger, which Napoleon explains is 'pretty much a lion and a tiger mixed', is the creature he draws and shows Pedro, claiming it is bred for its skills in magic.
Q 29Which bully demands 'Give me some of your tots'?
Randy
Napoleon had stashed the tater tots in his cargo pocket; Randy kicks them.
Q 30Which three talents does Napoleon insist girls want in a boyfriend?
Nunchuck, bow-hunting and computer-hacking
Napoleon lists nunchuck skills, bow-hunting skills and computer-hacking skills, insisting that 'girls only want boyfriends who have great skills', when Pedro asks whether he will ask anyone to the dance.