Verne Troyer

Verne Jay Troyer (January 1, 1969 – April 21, 2018) was an American actor, comedian and occasional stunt coordinator and performer. 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.

Troyer was born in Sturgis, Michigan, on January 1, 1969, the son of Susan, a factory worker, and Reuben Troyer, a repair technician. 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." Troyer was initially raised Amish, but his parents left the faith when he was a child. During his childhood, Troyer spent much time visiting Amish relatives in Centreville, Michigan. He graduated in 1987 from Centreville High School, where a plaque was dedicated to him in 2003.

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). He gained further work as a stunt double with minor comedic roles in several films of the 1990s, including Dunston Checks In, Jingle All the Way (both 1996), Men in Black (1997), and My Giant (1998). He is also known for an appearance in an Apple PowerBook G4 advertisement.

Troyer first met with Jay Roach to discuss portraying Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series, 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. Troyer reprised the role three years later in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and collaborated again with Myers on The Love Guru (2008).

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

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, was leaked to the public by Shrider and TMZ. Kevin Blatt, who previously brokered the deal for Paris Hilton's sex tape in 2003, tried to sell the video. Troyer sued TMZ, Blatt, and online rental company SugarDVD, for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement. The case was settled outside of court. At the time of his death, Troyer was dating actress Brittney Powell, as well as living with her and her son from a previous marriage.

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

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