At age 13, David Henrie landed a regular role as Petey Pitt on the Fox sitcom The Pitts. Henrie next landed a leading role in the Hallmark movie, Monster Makers, with Linda Blair and George Kennedy, and was asked to come back for another Hallmark movie, to play a role in Dead Hollywood Moms Society. He also starred as Skylar Blaford in the Fox’s sitcom Method & Red.
Henrie guest starred in many shows such as Providence, Without a Trace, The Mullets, Judging Amy, The D.A., Jack & Bobby, NCIS, House, and Cold Case. Before his role on Wizards of Waverly Place, he had a recurring role on That’s So Raven as Cory’s friend Larry. Henrie also had a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother, where he played Ted’s future son.
At the age of 18, Henrie got the role of Justin Russo in the Disney Channel Original Series, Wizards of Waverly Place. The show premiered on October 12, 2007. He was in the movie Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie with the cast of the series. Henrie played Justin Vincenzo Pepé Russo through the whole series. Henrie is credited with writing two episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place, “Alex’s Logo” and the series special “Meet the Werewolves”.
He had a role in the Disney Channel Original Movie Dadnapped co-starring Emily Osment. Henrie made a guest appearance as himself in two episodes of Jonas. According to Reuters, Henrie was officially named the Grand Marshal for the 2009 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race.
In 2010, Henrie guest-starred in the web series Easy to Assemble. In 2012, Henrie voiced the character of Shawn in the movie The Secret World of Arrietty.
Henrie appeared in Grown Ups 2 (2013), opposite Taylor Lautner and Adam Sandler. In 2014, Henrie played the lead in 1000 to 1: The Cory Weissman Story, the true story of a young basketball player who suffered a catastrophic stroke as a freshman at Gettysburg College. Later that year, Henrie guest starred in the ABC show Mind Games.
In 2015, Henrie played the role of Lane, a valet who falls for Paul Blart’s daughter, in the sequel Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. He also co-starred as London Busbee, older brother of the title character, in the drama Little Boy, and had a role in the indie biographical drama film Walt Before Mickey in which he plays Rudy Ising, who worked for Walt Disney. Henrie had cameo appearances in indie drama Cardboard Boxer and Warrior Road.
In 2018, Henrie directed a coming-of-age film This Is the Year, in which he also starred and co-wrote. In August 2020, Henrie and his Wizards of Waverly Place co-star Selena Gomez, who served as executive producer on the film, announced the virtual movie premiere of This Is the Year. In 2023, Henrie played the role of Ted in the Tubi original series Underdeveloped.