Verne Troyer, the man who became best known as Mini-Me in the Austin Powers films enjoyed a much more varied career than most recall. He's died at the age of 49.
Born in Michigan in 1969, Troyer was raised in the Amish faith, but his parents left the faith when he was a child. Raised with his average-sized siblings, Davon and Deborah, he has revealed in interviews that his parents never treated him differently despite his achondroplasia dwarfism, which saw him grow to two feet eight inches.
Troyer got his first break when he answered a call to perform stunts for the infant in Baby's Day Out. He continued to find stunt work and performed as animals and other creatures in a variety of other movies including Mighty Joe Young, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Men In Black, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.
Yet while he continued to work after the trilogy, scoring the role of Mini-Me alongside Mike Myers' Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies catapulted him to a new level of awareness, scoring warm a remembrance from his co-star. "Verne was the consummate professional and a beacon of positivity for those of us who had the honor of working with him," said Myers. "It is a sad day, but I hope he is in a better place. He will be greatly missed."
He struggled with alcoholism and depression, and had been admitted to hospital after an incident in his home earlier this month.
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