In community theatre, I’ve seen my fair share of leading actors who were significantly shorter than the leading lady. In a lot of areas, there’s a huge demand for male actors in their 20’s-30’s who are trained singers and dancers. Height is not a drawback if you’re talented.
If you’re talking about Broadway/regional theatre/tours, the VAST VAST majority of people making their living doing that work are some variation of ensemble/understudies/swings/alternates. (It’s important work and literally the reason most shows are able to go on) There’s also character roles- the villain, the father, the comic relief. 99% of people doing theatre professionally are not regularly the leading man/woman and anyone who hopes to make it in the industry needs to understand that.
i totally agree- community theatre is the only thing i’m probably ever gonna get into it’s just difficult to think i have to make up for my own height which i totally can’t control but it is how it is
Depends on the place, but the theatre world is definitely trying to be inclusive when it comes to physical appearance and sizing. I’ve seen plus size girls play lead roles that had nothing to do with their size, short guys playing romantic leads, etc. There’s even roles where the love interest isn’t supposed to be a macho tough guy like Emmett from legally blonde
No. I mean I understand why you’re worried. It makes perfect sense. But, hopefully, you will learn that this really isn’t how it works. What you do, like everyone before you, is find the roles you can make work. Everybody does this. Best of luck to you. You’re going to be fine.
It's community, it's probably always a train wreck of "that'll do". My first ever play my wife was in her late 60s (I'm in my 30s), my last play I had to tip toe to kiss my wife on the cheak. I think I'm shorter than every women in the soc bar one. Doesn't get in the way.
Expand your view of what a leading actor is and ask yourself why you want to be in theater. Say you have better chances of being cast as a villan, there are tons of villans who are more important than the “leading man”. Also, being a leading role may be nothing special if you don’t have the stage presence and talent to swallow everything around you when you’re under the spotlight.
i guess not even just a leading role but any role that can be taken seriously😕 what i really wanna do is have some kind of emotional impact on an audience and i don’t just wanna always be comic relief…but also i do have a lot of faith in the power of stage presence, if you can take hold of an audience you can do basically whatever u want
Stage presence and emotional range will trump physical attributes every single time. Don’t look at your height as a barrier to reach your intended goal. I do not see your height as a negative in any way. Do great things!
You can get cast as teenagers well into your 20’s because it’s easier than working with actual teenagers who have school and no driver’s license to work around.
I'll be honest, 5'1" is pretty short for a guy. Like I'd consider you notably short. Still there are a lot of famous actors that are also notably short. Broderick, Michael J. Fox, Tom Cruise, Daniel Radcliffe... the list goes on.
In fact, I have heard more stories of guys not getting cast in theatre because they are too tall, and it looks odd to have a guy over six feet tower over the leading actress, or the other actors on stage, as actors do tend to trend towards short.
First off.. “casted” is not a word. The past form of cast is cast… as in “I was cast in that show”.
Now to your actual question… yes there are shorter actors out there and quite a few of them. Yes, they do tend toward more character roles than romantic leads… but frankly… the character roles can be more fun to play. Leslie Jordan, Danny Devito (both of whom were/are shorter than you) have had really cool and long standing careers. Peter Dinklage has worked his way from stage to screen to Emmy awards. Linda Hunt has had one of the longer Hollywood careers.
I get that it can seem unfair and awkward, and I can’t lie to you that it would easy or that a path is clear. But if it’s what you want to do, you should consider it as a path. You just might have to consider what your “type” might be and exploit it and expand it. Some directors will be open if you show the right range and needs for the role, but yeah.. there will be directors for whom your height is an issue, and that’s not something you can control.
Why are there so many young people online who don’t understand basic past tense anymore? I am so tired of seeing “casted” all over the internet it makes my teeth chatter to see it.
There is a school of thought where "if enough people say a word a certain way, it becomes equally correct" and "if you understand what the person was trying to say, correcting their spelling/pronunciation/grammar is ableist/classist and you should let it slide."
Like, obviously if someone is writing an essay, they should be graded almost entirely on the research they do and how well they are able to support their position, and I don't think points should be taken off for bad spelling/grammar, but I don't think they should go by uncorrected. People aren't bad or stupid for getting something wrong, but that doesn't make them "equally correct."
I don't know when this got really bad, because I finished school 16 years ago and I never noticed this with any of my peers. I don't know if it's class size forcing teachers to prioritize content over spelling/grammar/pronunciation, pressure from administration to mark stuff correct that isn't so that the school doesn't look bad, or parents flipping their gourd because they take their kids' grades as a reflection of their parenting skills.
Another thing that really makes my brain hurt is people saying "whenever" when they mean "when." If someone says "whenever I'm pregnant, I get the worst toothaches and farts," that makes sense. If someone goes "whenever I was pregnant with my first child, I got the worst toothaches and farts," that doesn't make sense. It's apparently a regional thing, but oof...
Unfortunately…yes. My boyfriend is also a short king, he’s 5’6. It’s proven to be an issue because most theatres want the male love interest to be noticeably taller than the female. He still gets plenty of work! Fortunately he has comedic timing, and a great voice, plus he can dance, so he’s usually booked! But yea he’s definitely got some dream roles that he know he’ll likely never play because of his height.
Times are changing though! Some directors don’t care, and sometimes you’re so perfect for a role they don’t consider height! Don’t let it stop you, just know it’s a possibility. Most actors have something though, too tall, too short, too skinny, too fat, too this, too that, it can be a shallow industry in that way.
I'm thinking of a short castmate of mine who says he's never been cast as a romantic lead. So yeah, that might not happen very often for you. You probably want to shoot for more character/personality roles or ones where shortness is an advantage (Farquaad, LeFou) for better options, would be my guess. Or hope that you get cast with also short women.
It will be tough. Height is still a big consideration in theatre, but I do my best to fight against it. I’m about 5’5 and definitely feel your struggle at times. Some directors see the world past the norms that have been set. Most don’t at this time. I have found a career as Frankie Valli, though they’ll cast him all the way up to 5’9, so still not much on the lower end of the spectrum. Keep refining your skills and be the best in the room. You will break through the height barrier with those who dare to challenge the status quo.
Not exactly! I mean I’m the same height (also a trans guy so there’s that) and I found the options for me were still kinda there but you tend to be type cast more as sidekicks or dads, tho my dream role is LeFou but the highest role I’ve gotten is Bill in Mamma Mia. Usually I see you tend to get passed over for romantic roles if you want them but I did see a short guy (again also trans) playing Will Parker in a tour of Oklahoma which is a romantic lead so I was pleasantly surprised, so I’ll say the options are always open if you have the voice and the acting skills to back it up! (Which often comes through time and practice)
definitely not something i’d dwell on. the beautiful thing about theatre is that there’s a place for everyone in it. there is plenty of leads who are shorter, and as another commenter said, to be successful in theatre does not mean to be cast as the leads all the time. the ensembles bring shows to life and make it possible for them to go on. sure it might be a challenge for some roles, but at other times it will be an advantage!
How old are you? It’s an advantage to younger actors because they’ll cast you at 18 to play 14 or something because of your height.
You could always wear tall shoes to get to 5’5, like Daniel Radcliffe and Josh Hutcherson.
You have a slight disadvantage but it’s not impossible and the main reason for not being cast in anything would be your ability rather than your height, very important to have that mindset and not blame your height for any misfortune
Just went to Little Shop. Darren Criss is shorter than Evan Rachel Wood AND she wears Audrey’s signature heels so she towers over him— and their big kiss is still hot as heck!
Darren is a bit taller than her actually, she is between 5'6 and 5'7 and he's 5'8, but yes on stage she is taller with those heels and i agree their kiss is crazy hot
Consider lifts in your shoes if you can. We have an actor come back every now and then and it wasn't til I worked in wardrobe that he had like...three inch lifts in his shoes. Fantastic actor and singer, almost in his fifties but that was his solution. But also, what everyone else has been saying. You do you man. It sucks that some people will write you off as too short for a part but the right people will see past that and you'll be fine.
You're probably not playing Gaston anytime soon. Otherwise, there are tons of roles for shorter guys that aren't just comic relief. Unless a role is written specifically for someone to be tall or physically imposing, then you've got the same likelihood of being cast as anyone else. Especially if you're talking about "serious" roles. The traditionally "tall and handsome" leading man types are honestly the least interesting roles available, to be honest. Also worth factoring in is age. How old are you?
If you are meant for the role, your height will never be a big issue!
Santino Fontana once told me during a masterclass that the shoes he wore in Cinderella elevated him like 4 or five extra inches!!!!
I’ve played roles where I was taller than my male love interest, and (because height was important to the scripts) we staged it so that maybe I were sittting, maybe he was on a taller platform, etc.
Appearance isn’t exactly everything, and even if it is, there are a million ways to work around it.
No, you are not screwed. You are disadvantaged in certain roles, and advantaged in others. Which is pretty much what everyone deals with, except for the select few who were born flawlessly attractive.
Look into the stage roles that Josh Gad, Christopher Fitzgerald, Chip Zien, Alex Brightman, Daniel Radcliffe, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Dan Fogler played.
So probably Boq, Elder Cunningham, Ogie from Waitress, any of the husbands in Company, J. Pierrepont Finch from H2$, Leo Bloom and/or Max Bialystock, Charley Kringas, Tuck from Tuck Everlasting, Crutchie from Newsies, Mendel from Falsettos is often played by the shortest guy in the cast, Younger Brother from Ragtime, Giuseppe Zangara from Assassins is canonically short but he doesn't really have a love interest, and I guess Guiteau and Byck could also be played by short actors without much being lost in the translation.
Born to play Boq in Wicked!
Ahh this is so true ☺️
In community theatre, I’ve seen my fair share of leading actors who were significantly shorter than the leading lady. In a lot of areas, there’s a huge demand for male actors in their 20’s-30’s who are trained singers and dancers. Height is not a drawback if you’re talented. If you’re talking about Broadway/regional theatre/tours, the VAST VAST majority of people making their living doing that work are some variation of ensemble/understudies/swings/alternates. (It’s important work and literally the reason most shows are able to go on) There’s also character roles- the villain, the father, the comic relief. 99% of people doing theatre professionally are not regularly the leading man/woman and anyone who hopes to make it in the industry needs to understand that.
i totally agree- community theatre is the only thing i’m probably ever gonna get into it’s just difficult to think i have to make up for my own height which i totally can’t control but it is how it is
Depends on the place, but the theatre world is definitely trying to be inclusive when it comes to physical appearance and sizing. I’ve seen plus size girls play lead roles that had nothing to do with their size, short guys playing romantic leads, etc. There’s even roles where the love interest isn’t supposed to be a macho tough guy like Emmett from legally blonde
No. I mean I understand why you’re worried. It makes perfect sense. But, hopefully, you will learn that this really isn’t how it works. What you do, like everyone before you, is find the roles you can make work. Everybody does this. Best of luck to you. You’re going to be fine.
It's community, it's probably always a train wreck of "that'll do". My first ever play my wife was in her late 60s (I'm in my 30s), my last play I had to tip toe to kiss my wife on the cheak. I think I'm shorter than every women in the soc bar one. Doesn't get in the way.
Expand your view of what a leading actor is and ask yourself why you want to be in theater. Say you have better chances of being cast as a villan, there are tons of villans who are more important than the “leading man”. Also, being a leading role may be nothing special if you don’t have the stage presence and talent to swallow everything around you when you’re under the spotlight.
i guess not even just a leading role but any role that can be taken seriously😕 what i really wanna do is have some kind of emotional impact on an audience and i don’t just wanna always be comic relief…but also i do have a lot of faith in the power of stage presence, if you can take hold of an audience you can do basically whatever u want
Stage presence and emotional range will trump physical attributes every single time. Don’t look at your height as a barrier to reach your intended goal. I do not see your height as a negative in any way. Do great things!
Op: "I'm worried being short limits my career opportunities." /r/theatre: "Try being a villain"
Danny DeVito has had a helluva career! Is it an obstacle? Sure. Should it deter you from TRYING? No.
Michael J Fox is 5'4", as are Ken Jeong and Seth Green. Kevin Hart is 5'2 1/2". Height does matter, but you have to use it to.tour advantage.
In other words, try television!
Josh Hutcherson is 5’5 and has a heart throb character archetype!
In fairness, 5'5" is not 5'1".
You can get cast as teenagers well into your 20’s because it’s easier than working with actual teenagers who have school and no driver’s license to work around.
It can be, sometimes, but other times it can be an asset
I'll be honest, 5'1" is pretty short for a guy. Like I'd consider you notably short. Still there are a lot of famous actors that are also notably short. Broderick, Michael J. Fox, Tom Cruise, Daniel Radcliffe... the list goes on. In fact, I have heard more stories of guys not getting cast in theatre because they are too tall, and it looks odd to have a guy over six feet tower over the leading actress, or the other actors on stage, as actors do tend to trend towards short.
First off.. “casted” is not a word. The past form of cast is cast… as in “I was cast in that show”. Now to your actual question… yes there are shorter actors out there and quite a few of them. Yes, they do tend toward more character roles than romantic leads… but frankly… the character roles can be more fun to play. Leslie Jordan, Danny Devito (both of whom were/are shorter than you) have had really cool and long standing careers. Peter Dinklage has worked his way from stage to screen to Emmy awards. Linda Hunt has had one of the longer Hollywood careers. I get that it can seem unfair and awkward, and I can’t lie to you that it would easy or that a path is clear. But if it’s what you want to do, you should consider it as a path. You just might have to consider what your “type” might be and exploit it and expand it. Some directors will be open if you show the right range and needs for the role, but yeah.. there will be directors for whom your height is an issue, and that’s not something you can control.
Why are there so many young people online who don’t understand basic past tense anymore? I am so tired of seeing “casted” all over the internet it makes my teeth chatter to see it.
There is a school of thought where "if enough people say a word a certain way, it becomes equally correct" and "if you understand what the person was trying to say, correcting their spelling/pronunciation/grammar is ableist/classist and you should let it slide." Like, obviously if someone is writing an essay, they should be graded almost entirely on the research they do and how well they are able to support their position, and I don't think points should be taken off for bad spelling/grammar, but I don't think they should go by uncorrected. People aren't bad or stupid for getting something wrong, but that doesn't make them "equally correct." I don't know when this got really bad, because I finished school 16 years ago and I never noticed this with any of my peers. I don't know if it's class size forcing teachers to prioritize content over spelling/grammar/pronunciation, pressure from administration to mark stuff correct that isn't so that the school doesn't look bad, or parents flipping their gourd because they take their kids' grades as a reflection of their parenting skills. Another thing that really makes my brain hurt is people saying "whenever" when they mean "when." If someone says "whenever I'm pregnant, I get the worst toothaches and farts," that makes sense. If someone goes "whenever I was pregnant with my first child, I got the worst toothaches and farts," that doesn't make sense. It's apparently a regional thing, but oof...
Just read on another sub someone who wrote losted instead of lost!
That and “costed”!
Oh god! Those irregular verbs need to be learned. They're probably on the verge of saying "He ranged me" and "I growed up" and "We rided together."
Costed is very much a word though.
i apologize i really had no idea😭i’ll blame it on my theatre friends
Don’t sweat it! You’re learning. We were all like you at one point.
*cast
Check out Chip Zien as the baker in OBC Into the Woods. He played opposite Joanna Gleason who had at least 6-8 inches on him. That dude's a legend.
he played mendel in the og falsettoland cast too right? described his character as a “short insomniac” lol i love his voice
You wouldn't have to play Farquaad on your knees?
Unfortunately…yes. My boyfriend is also a short king, he’s 5’6. It’s proven to be an issue because most theatres want the male love interest to be noticeably taller than the female. He still gets plenty of work! Fortunately he has comedic timing, and a great voice, plus he can dance, so he’s usually booked! But yea he’s definitely got some dream roles that he know he’ll likely never play because of his height. Times are changing though! Some directors don’t care, and sometimes you’re so perfect for a role they don’t consider height! Don’t let it stop you, just know it’s a possibility. Most actors have something though, too tall, too short, too skinny, too fat, too this, too that, it can be a shallow industry in that way.
I'm thinking of a short castmate of mine who says he's never been cast as a romantic lead. So yeah, that might not happen very often for you. You probably want to shoot for more character/personality roles or ones where shortness is an advantage (Farquaad, LeFou) for better options, would be my guess. Or hope that you get cast with also short women.
It will be tough. Height is still a big consideration in theatre, but I do my best to fight against it. I’m about 5’5 and definitely feel your struggle at times. Some directors see the world past the norms that have been set. Most don’t at this time. I have found a career as Frankie Valli, though they’ll cast him all the way up to 5’9, so still not much on the lower end of the spectrum. Keep refining your skills and be the best in the room. You will break through the height barrier with those who dare to challenge the status quo.
Not exactly! I mean I’m the same height (also a trans guy so there’s that) and I found the options for me were still kinda there but you tend to be type cast more as sidekicks or dads, tho my dream role is LeFou but the highest role I’ve gotten is Bill in Mamma Mia. Usually I see you tend to get passed over for romantic roles if you want them but I did see a short guy (again also trans) playing Will Parker in a tour of Oklahoma which is a romantic lead so I was pleasantly surprised, so I’ll say the options are always open if you have the voice and the acting skills to back it up! (Which often comes through time and practice)
What does “casted” mean?
Assigned to a "caste" perhaps? It isn't the past tense of "cast".
😕
Danny DeVito
definitely not something i’d dwell on. the beautiful thing about theatre is that there’s a place for everyone in it. there is plenty of leads who are shorter, and as another commenter said, to be successful in theatre does not mean to be cast as the leads all the time. the ensembles bring shows to life and make it possible for them to go on. sure it might be a challenge for some roles, but at other times it will be an advantage!
How old are you? It’s an advantage to younger actors because they’ll cast you at 18 to play 14 or something because of your height. You could always wear tall shoes to get to 5’5, like Daniel Radcliffe and Josh Hutcherson. You have a slight disadvantage but it’s not impossible and the main reason for not being cast in anything would be your ability rather than your height, very important to have that mindset and not blame your height for any misfortune
Just went to Little Shop. Darren Criss is shorter than Evan Rachel Wood AND she wears Audrey’s signature heels so she towers over him— and their big kiss is still hot as heck!
Darren is a bit taller than her actually, she is between 5'6 and 5'7 and he's 5'8, but yes on stage she is taller with those heels and i agree their kiss is crazy hot
As a director, I love me a short king.
I know I'm being picky but it drives me crazy that people are saying "casted." It's cast. Casted means something entirely different. Words matter.
Danny Devito didn't do so badly. Just be an amazing actor and keep going for parts. Use your height as your selling point.
Consider lifts in your shoes if you can. We have an actor come back every now and then and it wasn't til I worked in wardrobe that he had like...three inch lifts in his shoes. Fantastic actor and singer, almost in his fifties but that was his solution. But also, what everyone else has been saying. You do you man. It sucks that some people will write you off as too short for a part but the right people will see past that and you'll be fine.
You're probably not playing Gaston anytime soon. Otherwise, there are tons of roles for shorter guys that aren't just comic relief. Unless a role is written specifically for someone to be tall or physically imposing, then you've got the same likelihood of being cast as anyone else. Especially if you're talking about "serious" roles. The traditionally "tall and handsome" leading man types are honestly the least interesting roles available, to be honest. Also worth factoring in is age. How old are you?
i'm 5'5 and i do fine get lifts in sneakers for auditions (it's what i did to book Marius, my Cosette was still taller than me so)
Mickey Rooney is a very famous actor from the olden days with dwarfism. When I say olden days, I mean I saw him on a show in black and white.
His height is 5' 2"
If you are meant for the role, your height will never be a big issue! Santino Fontana once told me during a masterclass that the shoes he wore in Cinderella elevated him like 4 or five extra inches!!!! I’ve played roles where I was taller than my male love interest, and (because height was important to the scripts) we staged it so that maybe I were sittting, maybe he was on a taller platform, etc. Appearance isn’t exactly everything, and even if it is, there are a million ways to work around it.
No, you are not screwed. You are disadvantaged in certain roles, and advantaged in others. Which is pretty much what everyone deals with, except for the select few who were born flawlessly attractive.
Not every role is made for a flawlessly attractive actor.
Tell that to Sweeney Todd on Broadway. Doesnt matter if the character is supposed to be middle aged and ugly. Hot people are allowed to play anything.
I disagree.
That's great. I'll inform the broadway casting directors of your opinion.
You go do that.
Look into the stage roles that Josh Gad, Christopher Fitzgerald, Chip Zien, Alex Brightman, Daniel Radcliffe, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Dan Fogler played. So probably Boq, Elder Cunningham, Ogie from Waitress, any of the husbands in Company, J. Pierrepont Finch from H2$, Leo Bloom and/or Max Bialystock, Charley Kringas, Tuck from Tuck Everlasting, Crutchie from Newsies, Mendel from Falsettos is often played by the shortest guy in the cast, Younger Brother from Ragtime, Giuseppe Zangara from Assassins is canonically short but he doesn't really have a love interest, and I guess Guiteau and Byck could also be played by short actors without much being lost in the translation.