Verne Troyer

Verne Troyer
Troyer at the Supernova Pop Culture Expo Sydney, Australia in 2012
Born	(1969-01-01) January 1, 1969 Sturgis, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Actor stunt performer
Years active	1994–present
Height	2 ft 8 in (0.81 m)
Spouse(s)	Genevieve Gallen (2004; annulled)

Verne J. Troyer (born January 1, 1969) is an American actor and stunt performer. He is notable for his height of 2 ft 8 in (0.81 m), the result of cartilage-hair hypoplasia dwarfism,^[1] making him one of the shortest men in the world. He is best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series of comedy films.

Early life

Troyer was born in Sturgis, Michigan, the son of Susan, a factory worker, and Reuben Troyer, a repair technician.^[2] He has two siblings, Davon and Deborah. During his childhood, Troyer spent much time visiting Amish relatives^[3] in Centreville, Michigan, and graduated from Centreville High School in 1987. He has stated that his parents "never treated me any different than my other average sized siblings. I used to have to carry wood, feed the cows and pigs and farm animals".^[4]

Personal life

He reportedly married model Genevieve Gallen on February 22, 2004, but filed for an annulment the next day. Though the couple's engagement was widely reported, Troyer and his attorney deny that the two ever had any formal wedding plans, saying that Gallen had fabricated the story for her own financial gain.^[5]

On June 25, 2008, a private home video leaked of Troyer and his former live-in girlfriend, Ranae Shrider, having sex. The video, filmed in 2008 in Beverly Hills, California, and Shrider's hometown of Fort Cobb, Oklahoma,^[6] was leaked to the public by Shrider and TMZ.^[7] Kevin Blatt, the man responsible for brokering the deal for Paris Hilton's sex tape in 2003, tried to sell the video. Troyer, through his long-time attorney, Ed McPherson, sued TMZ, Blatt, and online rental company SugarDVD, for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement.

Filmography

Film

Television

• Masked Rider (1995–1996) (stunts for Paul Pistore)
• Shasta McNasty (1999–2000)
• Jack of All Trades (2000) – Napoleon Bonaparte
• Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (2002) – Angus
• Boston Public (2003) – Taylor Prentice (2 episodes)
• Karroll's Christmas (2004)
• The Girls Next Door (2005) – himself (episode "Fight Night")
• The Surreal Life (2005)
• Bo! in the USA (2006)
• The Surreal Life: Fame Games (2007)
• Welcome to Sweden (2007)
• Celebrity Juice (2008, 2010, 2012) – himself
• The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest... (2008) – commentator
• The Podge and Rodge Show (2008) – himself
• Celebrity Big Brother (2009) – himself
• Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (2009) – himself
• The Paul O'Grady Show (2009) – himself
• WWE Raw (2009) – guest host
• Lemon La Vida Loca (2013) – himself
• Legit (2013) – himself
• BGO.com TV Campaign (2014) – Beat the Boss^[8]
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? (2014) – himself (Season 10, episode 3)
• Through the Keyhole (2014) – himself

References

External links

• Verne Troyer at the Internet Movie Database
• Verne Troyer interview on Movieset.com