34 People with dwarfism

The following is a list of people who are known for their dwarfism and who have been open about it. While these people are not known for being the shortest ever, they have been mentioned in sources describing how the condition has affected their lives. Dwarfism is caused by several different types of medical conditions, and is typically defined as an adult with a height of 147 centimetres or less. Records or mentions of people with dwarfism have not always been kept well, resulting in estimated heights that were taken from eyewitnesses. In some given cases the height of the person is unknown except to say that they were mentioned as a "dwarf" in various media. This list does not include every prominent person with dwarfism, as others are already included on other linked Wikipedia lists.

Helena Antonia (1550–1595) was a bearded female court dwarf of Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress and was a favorite of Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain, and also a lady-in-waiting for Constance of Austria, Queen of Poland. She was born in Liège.

David Ritchie (1740–1811), also known as David of Manor Water, Bow'd Davie, Crooked David, and most notably the Black Dwarf, was a dwarf, the son of a quarryman at the slate quarries of Stobo. He was the inspiration for Sir Walter Scott's novel, The Black Dwarf. Scott visited him in 1797.

Józef Boruwłaski was a Polish-born dwarf and musician who toured in European and Turkish courts.

Sinéad Burke is an Irish writer, academic and disability activist, popular for her TED talk 'Why design should include everyone'. She is the Director of consulting organisation 'Tilting the Lens', working to raise the baseline standards in accessibility, to design an equitable and accessible world.

Rebecca Hare Cokley is an American disability rights activist and public speaker who is currently the director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress (CAP). She previously served as the Executive Director of the National Council on Disability (NCD).

Some of the first dwarfs to have their histories recorded were employed as court dwarfs. They were owned and traded amongst people of the court, and delivered as gifts to fellow kings and queens.

Chandra Bahadur Dangi was a Nepali man who was the shortest man in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence, measuring 54.6 cm. Dangi was a primordial dwarf. He broke the record of Gul Mohammed (1957–1997), whose height was 57 cm.

Judy-Lynn del Rey née Benjamin was a science fiction editor.

Alan Eggleston is a former Australian politician who served as a Liberal member of the Australian Senate from 1996 to 2014 representing Western Australia.

Nicolaes le Febure, was a Dutch Golden Age mayor of Haarlem.

Nicolas Ferry (1741–1764) was a French dwarf who became renowned throughout Europe as the court dwarf of King Stanisław Leszczyński.

Richard Gibson (1615-1690), known as "Dwarf Gibson", was a painter of portrait miniatures and a court dwarf in England during the reigns of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, Charles II, and William III and Mary II.

He Pingping was a Chinese citizen and, according to the Guinness World Records, at one time the world's shortest mobile man.

Saint John the Dwarf, also called Saint John Colobus, Saint John Kolobos or Abba John the Dwarf, was a Coptic Desert Father of the early Christian church.

Alexander Katan was a Dutch Jewish physically disabled accountant, translator, and teacher, who was murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust, after which time his photographs were notoriously on display in various museums.

Benjamin Lay was an Anglo-American Quaker humanitarian and abolitionist. He is best known for his early and strident anti-slavery activities which would culminate in dramatic protests. He was also an author, farmer, an early vegetarian, and distinguished by his early concern for the ethical treatment of animals.

Khagendra Thapa Magar was a Nepali once known as the shortest man in the world, measuring 0.67 m. Magar, who was a primordial dwarf, won the title of shortest man from Edward Niño Hernández. He lost the title in June 2011 to Junrey Balawing of the Philippines.

Saint Margaret of Città di Castello was an Italian Roman Catholic and professed member from the Third Order of Saint Dominic. Margaret had disabilities and became known for her deep faith and holiness. Her parents abandoned her in a local church due to her disabilities and the town's poor took her in and assumed care for her. Nuns later offered her a home at their convent but soon came to detest her presence and cast her out prompting the town's poor to once again take her in and care for her. But she met with Dominican friars and was accepted as a secular member in their third order; she started a school for children to teach them in the faith and often took care of children while their parents were out at work.

Maria Bárbola, also known as Mari, Mariabárbola and Mariabárbola Asquín, was a Spanish court official, foremost known from the famous painting Las Meninas.

Paul Steven Miller was the Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law at the University of Washington School of Law. He was a Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for almost 10 years, and in 2009 he was chosen to serve as a special assistant to President Barack Obama. Miller, who had the genetic condition achondroplasia was 4 feet 5 inches (135 cm) tall. He was known as a leader in the disability rights movement, and an expert on anti-discrimination law and international disability rights.

Nano Morgante was an Italian dwarf who was a famed buffoon and court jester in the court of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Morgante was ironically nicknamed after the giant from the poem of the same name by Luigi Pulci. He was the most celebrated of the five dwarves of the Medici court at the Palazzo Pitti.

Anthony John "Tony" Munro was an Australian journalist, known mostly for covering Associate and Affiliate cricket teams.

Pauline Musters was a Dutch woman. She is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the shortest woman ever recorded, standing at only 24 inches (61 cm) tall.

Nelson Ned d'Ávila Pinto was a Brazilian singer-songwriter. He built a solid career as a singer and composer of sentimental, suffering songs, rising to popularity in Brazil and Latin America in 1969 and becoming known internationally, especially in Portugal, France and Spain. In 1971 he released his first Spanish album, "Canción Popular" and performed in the US, Latin America, Europe, and Africa.

Tricia Newbold is an American career government employee who has worked in the Executive Office of the President of the United States since 2000. She works as a manager in the White House's Personnel Security Office.

Steven "Steve" Novick is a former politician in the U.S. state of Oregon and a lawyer and political activist. Most recently he served a four-year term as a Portland City Commissioner – a member of the City Council of Portland – from January 2013 to January 2017. He was elected in May 2012 and assumed office on January 1, 2013. In 2008, he ran for the Democratic Party's nomination for the United States Senate, for the seat then held by Republican Gordon Smith, but narrowly lost to Oregon House speaker Jeff Merkley. On the Portland city council, he was in charge of the city's transportation department, among other responsibilities. Novick ran for re-election to the city council in 2016 but lost to Chloe Eudaly. Starting in 2018, he works as an attorney for Oregon Department of Justice.

Seneb was a high-ranking court official in the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, circa 2520 BC. A dwarf, Seneb was a person of considerable importance and wealth who owned thousands of cattle, held twenty palaces and religious titles and was married to a high-ranking priestess of average size with whom he had three children. His successful career and the lavishness of his burial arrangements are indicative of the acceptance given to dwarfs in ancient Egyptian society, whose texts advocated the acceptance and integration of those with physical disabilities.

Sir Thomas William Shakespeare, 3rd Baronet, is an English sociologist and bioethicist. He has achondroplasia and uses a wheelchair.

Charles Proteus Steinmetz was a German-born American mathematician and electrical engineer and professor at Union College. He fostered the development of alternating current that made possible the expansion of the electric power industry in the United States, formulating mathematical theories for engineers. He made ground-breaking discoveries in the understanding of hysteresis that enabled engineers to design better electromagnetic apparatus equipment, especially electric motors for use in industry.

Noemi Tesorero, known professionally as Mahal, was a Filipino actress, comedian, and vlogger. She had dwarfism, but was noted for her childlike roles and giggly personality.

Johan Natanael Törnros, known as Nabot was a Swedish painter, illustrator and cartoonist. He specialized in portraits and interiors. After 1900, he was a member of a short-lived progressive artists' group known as "De Frie", which was notable for its inclusion of a female artist, Harriet Sundström. His nickname is derived from the French word for dwarf.

Roel van Velzen, better known as VanVelzen, is a Dutch singer-songwriter. Besides being known for his short stature, he and his band enjoy a huge live reputation; they have played at virtually every festival in the Netherlands, shared the stage with Queen's Brian May, and supported Kelly Clarkson, Bon Jovi and German megastars Reamonn. He also had an international airplay hit when DJ Armin van Buuren remixed VanVelzen's song "Broken Tonight".

James Vee is a Scottish actor, puppeteer and stunt performer. He is best known for playing a number of Doctor Who monsters and aliens including Bannakaffalatta in the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned, as well as the Graske in the Doctor Who spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. He is also well known as the actor for R2-D2 in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, replacing the late Kenny Baker, who died in 2016.