Verne Troyer

Verne Jay Troyer (January 1, 1969 – April 21, 2018) was an American actor. He was best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers film series. He had cartilage–hair hypoplasia and was 2 ft 8 in (81 cm) tall.^[1][2]

Verne Troyer
Troyer at the Chiller Theatre Expo in 2017
Born	Verne Jay Troyer (1969-01-01)January 1, 1969 Sturgis, Michigan, U.S.
Died	April 21, 2018(2018-04-21) (aged 49) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Leonidas Cemetery
Occupations	Actor comedian stunt performer
Years active	1989–2018
Height	2 ft 8 in (81 cm)
Partner	Brittney Powell (2007–2018; his death)
Signature

Early life

Troyer was born in Sturgis, Michigan, on January 1, 1969,^[3] the son of Susan, a factory worker, and Reuben Troyer, a repair technician.^[4] He had two siblings, Davon and Deborah. He 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."^[5] Troyer was initially raised Amish, but his parents left the faith when he was a child.^[6] During his childhood, Troyer spent much time visiting Amish relatives^[7] in Centreville, Michigan. He graduated in 1987 from Centreville High School, where a plaque was dedicated to him in 2003.^[8]

Career

Troyer's film career began when a former president of Little People of America contacted him, looking for someone to serve as a stunt double for the infant character "Baby Bink" in John Hughes' film Baby's Day Out (1994).^[9] He gained further work as a stunt double with some minor comedic roles in several films of the 1990s, including Dunston Checks In, Jingle All the Way (both 1996), Men in Black (1997),^[10] and My Giant (1998).^[11] He is also known for an appearance in an Apple PowerBook G4 advertisement.^[12]

He first met with Jay Roach to discuss portraying Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series,^[13] directed by Roach and starring co-creator Mike Myers, before filming for the series' second film began. Myers was impressed with Troyer's performance, rewriting the script for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) to give Mini-Me more screen time and remove the character's death.^[14] Troyer reprised the role three years later in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and collaborated again with Myers on The Love Guru (2008).^[10]

After reaching a large audience as Mini-Me, Troyer portrayed Griphook in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001),^[15] and played the role of Percy in Terry Gilliam's fantasy film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).^[16] He also made several appearances as himself in reality television series, including The Surreal Life (2005), Welcome to Sweden (2007),^[10] and the British Celebrity Big Brother 6 (2009), in which he placed fourth.^[17]

Personal life

On June 25, 2008, a private home video was leaked of Troyer and his former live-in girlfriend Ranae Shrider having sex. The video, recorded in 2008 in Beverly Hills, California, and Shrider's hometown of Fort Cobb, Oklahoma,^[18] was leaked to the public by Shrider and TMZ.^[19] 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.^[20]

In early April 2018, Troyer was admitted to a hospital after an incident in his home.^[21][22] He had previously been admitted to rehab to undergo treatment for alcoholism.^[22][23]

Death

Troyer died at a hospital in Los Angeles on April 21, 2018, at age 49. His death was later ruled a suspected suicide by alcohol intoxication. He was interred with his parents in Leonidas Cemetery in St. Joseph County, Michigan.^[24][25]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1994	Baby's Day Out	Baby Bink's stunt double	Debut role	[9]
1996	Dunston Checks In			[10]
	Jingle All the Way	Little Santa Claus		[10]
	Pinocchio's Revenge	Pinocchio's Miniature Double		[26]
1997	Volcano			[27]
	Men in Black	Alien Son		[28]
	Wishmaster	Creature Stage #1		[28]
	RocketMan			[29]
1998	My Giant	Wrestler		[11]
	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Wee Waiter	Credited as Verne J. Troya	[30]
	The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald	Sundae	Direct-to-video Voice by Dee Bradley Baker	[31]
	Mighty Joe Young	Baby Joe		[30]
1999	Here Lies Lonely	Virgil		[32]
	Instinct	Gorilla Performer		[30]
	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Mini-Me	Credited as Verne J. Troya	[33]
2000	Bit Players	Marty Rosenthal		[34]
	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Band Member		[30]
2001	Bubble Boy	Dr. Phreak		[28]
	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	Griphook	Voice by Warwick Davis	[33]
2002	Run for the Money	Attila		[28]
	Austin Powers in Goldmember	Mini-Me		[33]
2003	Pauly Shore Is Dead	Himself		[28]
2007	Postal	Himself		[28]
2008	The Love Guru	Coach Punch Cherkov		[33]
	College	Himself		[30]
2009	The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus	Percy		[28]
2012	Keith Lemon: The Film	Archimedes		[30]
2013	Convenience	Dwight		[30]
2015	Trailer Park Boys: Drunk, High, and Unemployed: Live in Austin	Himself		[28]
	Gnome Alone	The Gnome		[35]
2018	The Delivery	The Boss	Short film Posthumous release
2019	Aliens, Clowns & Geeks	Emperor Beezel-Chugg	Posthumous release	[26]
2020	The 420 Movie: Mary & Jane	Tito the Terrible	Posthumous release Final film role	[36]

Television

Year(s)	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1995–1996	Saban's Masked Rider	Ferbus	Suit Actor	[9]
1999–2000	Shasta McNasty	Verne		[28]
2000	Jack of All Trades	Napoleon Bonaparte		[28]
2002	Sabrina the Teenage Witch	Angus		[33]
2003	Boston Public	Taylor Prentice	2 episodes	[33]
2004	Karroll's Christmas	Spike		[28]
2005	The Girls Next Door	Himself	Episode "Fight Night"	[37]
	The Surreal Life	Himself		[28]
	Half & Half	Reggie	"The Big Thorne in My Side Episode"	[38]
2006	Bo! in the USA			[39]
2007	The Surreal Life: Fame Games	Himself		[28]
	Welcome to Sweden	Himself		[28]
2008	The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest...	Commentator		[40]
	The Podge and Rodge Show	Himself		[41]
2008–2015	Celebrity Juice	Himself
2009	Celebrity Big Brother	Himself		[30]
	Friday Night with Jonathan Ross	Himself		[28]
	The Paul O'Grady Show	Himself		[30]
	WWE Raw	Guest host		[28]
2013	Lemon La Vida Loca	Himself		[42]
	The Body Shocking Show	Himself
	Legit	Himself		[34]
2014	BGO.com TV Campaign			[43]
	Whose Line Is It Anyway?	Himself	Season 10, episode 3	[28]
	Through the Keyhole	Himself
2015	Celebrity Wife Swap	Himself		[28]
2017	Trailer Park Boys: Out of the Park: USA	Himself	Episode: "Los Angeles 2"	[28]

Music videos

Year	Artist	Song	Album
1999	Madonna	"Beautiful Stranger"	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
	Mel B	"Word Up"	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
2002	Moby	"We Are All Made of Stars"	18
2004	D12	"My Band"	D12 World
2005	Ludacris	"Number One Spot"	The Red Light District
2009	Forever the Sickest Kids	"What Do You Want from Me"	The Weekend: Friday and Diary of a Wimpy Kid
2014	Steve Aoki featuring will.i.am	"Born to Get Wild"	Neon Future I

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Ref(s)
2016	Let It Die	Jackal X	[44]

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Story Cops with Verne Troyer	Glenn Peck	Funny or Die Exclusive[45]
2018	My 90-Year-Old Roommate	Verne Troyer	Episode: "Verne Troyer"; posthumous release