sorted by size

Meredith Eaton-Gilden thought her role as legal eagle Emily Resnick on the CBS drama “Family Law” would be her big breakthrough. But the 4-foot-3-inch actress could barely nab an audition after the show was canceled in 2002.

Offended by the few cartoonish, comedic or weird roles that surfaced – including a TV spot calling for an elf to perform a sexual act with Santa Claus – she used her master’s degree in clinical psychology to work as a therapist, slipping off Hollywood’s radar.

“To go in and read for regular roles, there was nothing. It was frustrating not getting my foot in the door,” says Eaton-Gilden, 32.

Then she landed a recurring role as lawyer Bethany Horowitz, a streetwise spitfire in a love-triangle role with William Shatner on David E. Kelley’s ABC dramedy “Boston Legal.”

“If it weren’t for David, I don’t know where I’d be,” Eaton-Gilden says of the veteran innovator known for casting out-of-the-box characters.

Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, gays and disabled actors continue to break barriers in film and TV. But the approximately 125 short actors who are Screen Actors Guild members say they’re usually pigeonholed by producers, directors and screenwriters.

Still, times seem to be improving, with diminutive actors receiving high-profile projects and broader, more nuanced roles.

Peter Dinklage’s star turn in 2003’s acclaimed indie film “The Station Agent” transformed him into a sex symbol with a busy career, with a romantic role last season on FX’s “Nip/Tuck” and several upcoming films.

Verne Troyer has parlayed his Mini-Me role in the “Austin Powers” trilogy to ads for Geico, IBM and DirectTV.

Skateboarder Jason Acuna of “Jackass” fame was prominently featured among B-list celebrities in CBS’ recently canceled “Armed & Famous.”

Charla Faddoul, a breakout 2004 reality star on CBS’ “Amazing Race,” has returned to “Amazing Race: All-Stars.” And The Learning Channel’s popular reality series “Little People, Big World,” about dwarfs Matt and Amy Roloff, returns April 9.

“We’re getting more positive exposure, and that’s going to help people of short stature getting treated as regular people,” says Gary Arnold, spokesman for the Little People of America advocacy group. “But the antiquated roles of short people as punch lines linger.”

Many short-statured actors – that terminology, as well as little people and dwarfs, are considered acceptable descriptions – applaud Hollywood’s growing interest. But most realize their careers always will be limited by size.

“People may be a little more open,” says 3-foot-6-inch actor Phil Fondacaro, whose 26-year career includes gigs as elves, munchkins, aliens, mini-Draculas and “Star Wars” Ewoks. “But they don’t want me for a part opposite Sharon Stone if it doesn’t call for a little person.”

Even in breakthrough roles, height plays as a plot point. Bethany’s stature serves as a foil for Shatner’s politically incorrect Denny Crane, who is smitten with her.

Dinklage’s “Nip/Tuck” stint had him in tender love scenes with 5-foot-9-inch Joely Richardson. His height was a counterpoint to the show’s central theme, the idolization of physical perfection.

“Obviously, everything needs to move forward a bit in Hollywood,” says Dinklage, 37, who’s filming “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and will appear in “Penelope” with Reese Witherspoon.

“It’s certainly getting a lot better,” he says. “But it’s two steps forward, one step back.”

Tony Cox, mostly limited to traditional short-guy roles over a three-decade career, hoped his breakout turn as Billy Bob Thornton’s foul-mouthed sidekick in 2003’s “Bad Santa” would open doors.

“You’d think there would be more good roles,” says Cox, 48. “I don’t go for roles that make fun of little people. Or where they still use the term ‘midget.’ To me, that’s like the n-word.

“But for a lot of us, you do the work that’s around or you don’t eat.”

Acuna is 4-feet-7-inches tall, but he was hired for “Armed & Famous” for his “Jackass” notoriety as much as his stature, says producer Tom Forman.

“He’s a star we knew would skew young with viewers,” Forman says. “He may be a small guy, but he has a personality that lights up the screen.”

Still, Danny Woodburn – best known for playing Michael Richards’ diminutive sidekick Mickey Abbott on “Seinfeld” in the early 1990s – says attitudes in Hollywood aren’t much more enlightened than in the mainstream world.

“There’s something about the spectacle of little people that brings out this last bastion of acceptable bigotry,” Woodburn says.

“It seems like if there’s a way to dehumanize people and get away with it, people will leap at it. If (Richards) had done a 10-minute rant against midgets instead of African Americans, no one would give a damn.”

Dinklage and Eaton-Gilden say short actors perpetuate biases by taking precisely the type of roles that denigrate or parody them, so they’re starting to develop their own film and TV projects.

But for now, Easton-Gilden is happy that “Boston Legal” has re-energized a stalled career. Her role already has evolved from what was supposed to be a three-episode arc to an open-ended part and helped her land a role in the upcoming theatrical comedy “Gary the Tennis Coach” with Seann William Scott and Randy Quaid.

“I have to be a realist,” she says. “My opportunities are always going to be more limited than actors who are a foot taller than me, but I hope I’ve proven myself just like any other actress. And I hope that I get a chance to read for parts.”