Verne Troyer

Verne Troyer
Born	(1969-01-01) January 1, 1969 Sturgis, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, stunt performer
Years active	1994–present
Spouse	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, 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. He has two siblings, Davon and Deborah. He grew up 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".

Troyer at the Supernova Pop Culture Expo Sydney, Australia in 2012

Personal life

Troyer has struggled with several addictions, including cocaine and alcoholism. 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.

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, was leaked to the public by Shrider and TMZ. 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.

It was announced in March 2013 that Troyer would be the Grand Marshall in the Paris, Tennessee Fish Fry Parade.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Baby's Day Out		Stuntman
1996	Dunston Checks In		Stuntman
1996	Jingle All the Way	Little Santa	Stuntman
1996	Pinocchio's Revenge	Pinocchio's Miniature Double
1997	Men in Black	Alien Son
1997	Volcano		Stuntman
1997	RocketMan		Stuntman
1997	Wishmaster	Creature Stage #1
1998	My Giant	Wrestler
1998	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Wee Waiter
1998	The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Scared Silly	Sundae
1998	Mighty Joe Young	Baby Joe
1999	Here Lies Lonely	Virgil
1999	Instinct	Gorilla Performer
1999	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Mini-Me
2000	Mission Imp	Ethan Runt
2000	Bit Players	Marty Rosenthal
2000	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Band Member
2001	Bubble Boy	Dr Phreak
2001	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	Griphook the Goblin	Voice by Warwick Davis Credited as Vern Troyer
2002	Run for the Money	Atilla
2002	Austin Powers in Goldmember	Mini-Me
2003	Pauly Shore is Dead	Himself
2007	Postal	Himself
2008	The Love Guru	Coach Punch Cherkov
2008	College	Himself
2009	The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus	Percy
2012	Keith Lemon: The Film	Archimedes

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)
• Drake & Josh (2007) – Chuck
• 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
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? (2014) - Himself (Season 10 Episode 3)

External links

• Verne Troyer at IMDb
• Verne Troyer interview on Movieset.com