Being born shorter than other people is something that can severely limit how you get to live your life and what opportunities you’ll get from it. For some people in Hollywood, however, length is just a number. They’ve shown on and off screen that you don’t need to be a big person to have a big presence, and they’ve managed to become icons for an entire generation and overcome the boundaries of their physical stature. Let’s take a look at these huge personalities in small packages.
Peter Dinklage
Before he made himself immortal by becoming Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones, Peter Dinklage didn’t have the easiest of careers. He’d always wanted to act from a young age but actively refused roles that would typically be given to someone of his 135 cm posture. Once everyone saw how amazing an actor he really is, though, he’s been in all kinds of projects and has become a very famous household name.
Verne Troyer
Mostly known as Mini-Me from the Austin Powers series, Troyer was only 81 cm tall. When the first Austin Powers movie was released, creator Mike Myers was so impressed with Troyer’s performance that he wrote the sequels to have more of Troyer in them, and it ended up being a huge success. Sadly, Troyer didn’t get to have the long career we all hoped he would as he tragically died back in 2018.
Danny DeVito
Measuring only 147 cm, Danny would technically just about meet the clinical definition of dwarfism, although his small size is due to another rare genetic disorder. Even before his role in the hit show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, DeVito had already made a huge career for himself and become one of the most famous people in Hollywood. And his great career hasn’t gone unnoticed—in 2011, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Tony Cox
Cox started acting back when he was 18 after a lot of encouragement from family and friends, but it wasn’t until he got a part in Me, Myself & Irene that he really started to make a name for himself. With his 106 cm, he moved through Hollywood and even managed to bag himself a leading role in Bad Santa—a very rare occurrence for dwarf actors.
Warwick Ashley Davis
Not many actors get to say they were in Star Wars and in the Harry Potter series, but Davis is one of them. He started his acting career when George Lucas was looking for people under 1,2 meters tall for Return of the Jedi. Despite just being in an Ewok suit, it was a launch pad for him, and more recently, he starred as Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter series. But he hasn’t just been acting; he also founded an agency that specializes in representing actors shorter than 1,5 meters tall. Being only 107 cm himself, he’s the perfect person to support and help these new actors trying to make their way in showbiz.
