Men in heels! Brad Pitt and other shockingly short actors

Mar 19, 2012 4:45 PM by Nick Esquer

Posted in Entertainment / Celebrity Gossip

Hey, Hollywood Actors, Need A Lift?

Sometimes our leading men just don’t measure up. From sneaky red carpet footwear to generous camera angles, these male stars need a little boost.

People are growing taller and more rapidly in the United States alone. The average height for a male is 5'10" as compared to 5'7" in 1950. With healthier living and advances in modern science it wouldn't be farfetched to picture 8-foot tall fifth graders in our near future. Okay, that's a little extreme, but the notion that art imitates life isn't always accurate for some of Hollywood's top actors.

5'7"

Tom Cruise

Arguably the easiest target of ridicule in the Hollywood height community, Cruise has garnered a lot of taunting over the years due to his shorter stature. He's mostly known for playing tough guys and action heroes, and our perception of a guy like that is that he should be an enormously tall man. It's no matter to Cruise. He still gets a bighearted heaping of help in elevation everywhere, from his Mission: Impossible films to red carpet premieres.

5'5"

Daniel Radcliffe

He's the "Boy Who Lived." Radcliffe can be as short as he wants to be. The pint-sized Brit we all grew up watching didn't really grow up. He's been rubbing elbows of Hollywood's elite with his shoulders for a long time and it looks like things aren't going to change. Oh, well, he still defeated Voldemort to save Muggle-kind.

5'8"

Mark Wahlberg

The two-time Oscar nominee has done a complete 180 from his early days of Marky Mark and underwear modeling. He still has the body of a chiseled rock and his acting gets better and better. But, this ultra-cut Hollywood titan isn't as tall as you'd think. Wahlberg's taller female co-stars like Charlize Theron and Heather Graham (both 5'9") have had to walk around barefoot next to the hunky star on set. Still, the Boston-boy with the sheepish grin proves that good things come in small packages.

5'10"

George Clooney

If you watch some of Clooney's earlier works (The Peacemaker, Batman & Robin) he looks towering. Since his shot into superstardom post-ER, King George seems to gradually shrink in virtually every role. IMDb lists him at a kind 5'11," but check out any photo gallery of him and he's getting a little help from shoe lifts and thick heels. You're still the charmer, George.

5'11"

Brad Pitt

George's BFF isn't short by any standard. At a good solid height, Brad seems to actually grow taller with every role. In last year's critical darling Moneyball, Pitt looked like a 6'6" giant among pigmies onscreen. In reality, Pitt is never far from shoe lifts and liberal camera angles. Take a look back at Thelma and Louise. Notice he's mostly lying down with six-foot Geena Davis instead of standing next to her? But, he's Brad Pitt! He could be Joe Pesci-short and still look good.

5'8"

Robert Downey, Jr.

Freakin' Iron Man is even on the short list. The comeback kid of Tinseltown hasn't let his shorter size stop him from being a heavy hitter in Hollywood. With already classic performances in the Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes franchises, and Oscar nominations for Chaplin and Tropic Thunder, Downey shows us that height plays no role in becoming a movie legend.

Check out our profile of Johnny Depp. Does it really matter he barely gets to 5'8"?

Tell us:

Would you mind standing over your favorite Hollywood hunk? Among others at 5'8" and below are Tobey Maguire, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner, Shia LaBeouf, Taye Diggs and Jeremy Renner. Eat your heart out.

Photo credits: C.Smith/WENN.com, WENN.com, FayesVision/WENN.com, Lia Toby/WENN.com, FayesVision/WENN.com, Adriana M. Barraza/ WENN.com, Apega/WENN.com

More on men

Why short guys rule
Big men with little women
5 Hot actors speaking French

Tags: brad pitt daniel radcliffe george clooney robert downey jr tom cruise

Comments

Comments on "Men in heels! Brad Pitt and other shockingly short actors"

Robert Downey Jr. Is not tall. I worked out net to him in NYC. I'm 6'3 and he is my wife's height. He is 5'5". Maybe 5'6" max. No platforms in the gym.

Sure this is BS , I bet the heights or not even there real heights . Tom Cruise 5'7 ? More like 5'9 .

I really don't think Brad Pitt and George Clooney should be on this list Im around 5'10-5'11 myself and have never been considered short I think there should be a 5'8 cut off.

Haha, this is silly. The introduction makes it seem as though these actors aren't 'real life people' because of the job they pursued and landed.. . . I sure hope your perception of them doesn't change because they're not as tall as you'd imagined.. i don't see why that'd call for anyone to adore another less. I mean, you've got James Dean, one of the ultimate icons in the business of all time, who was 5'8". Then there's Al Pacino who's also about 5'8" and he's the crazy bad ass of the industry, nobody s with pacino. And Bob Marley, the reggae music man of peace and harmony, at 5'7" ish.

This article is BS, I'm a 5'4 guy who ate healthy and had a very healthy childhood, there's nothing I could have done to grow taller and to be honest my height has never bothered me until i see articles like this that are implying I'm lesser worth because i didn't have the genes to grow taller.

Wow! I had no idea about Daniel Radcliffe. I guess it's because he's such a stud in a wizardly sort of way... Thanks for the info on one of my faves!

Why do they need to measure up? Maybe society needs to accept men of all heights instead of putting pressure on men to be tall. Maybe then we won't have men traveling to china to have their legs broken in order to become men that are taken seriously? I mean seriously, with all of the plus size women demanding equal treatment, maybe society should give short men a pass (p.s. i have no dog in this fight, I'm a 5'11 male).

Revolving

Men in heels! Brad Pitt and other shockingly short actors