Little Person, Leading Man

Actor Peter Dinklage on life as a little person.

Peter Dinklage, a ten-year veteran of stage and screen, recently starred in the Miramax film The Station Agent. He played the character Fin McBride, a four-foot, five-inch man who moves to rural New Jersey, dead set on isolation, but finds friendship instead. In real life, Dinklage is an achondroplasia dwarf who had some interesting things to say about life as a little person.

Q: Did you relate to the character Fin?
A: I obviously connect with the whole size issue, but I'm much more of an extrovert than he is. Tom [McCarthy, the writer and director] would observe things like how children react to me, then put that in the movie. Or the general tentativeness I have with people -- I don't know where they're coming from sometimes. You get to thinking you've got to judge what angle people are coming from. Are they doing something because of my size?

Q: Where does that wariness lead?
A: You put walls up, because when you've been made fun of growing up, your trust level is shaken. I think Fin's faith in people has been destroyed, and he needs healthy people around him to re-establish trust.

Q: Can you relate to that need?
A: I understand it. I get disappointed in the idiocy of people sometimes. But if you build those walls around you, it will destroy you. That's one of the themes of the movie -- no matter how ignorant people can be, don't build those walls.

Q: Will the movie help fight ignorance?
A: I don't want to get on a soapbox preaching tolerance, but anything that helps people treat each other with a little more kindness is great.