How Tall Is Linda Hunt?

Despite being a successful actress now, this journey to stardom wasn't an easy ride for Linda Hunt. Having been diagnosed with hypopituitary dwarfism towards the end of her high school years (via The Bulletin), Hunt never grew taller than 4 foot 9 inches. Despite her parents being "encouraging on every level," the actress didn't experience the same feelings from her peers growing up.

"I was totally alienated by school almost from the first day," she explained. "I had a bad experience with a teacher and was made to feel stupid. I felt bad that I didn't fit in." Hunt opened up more about this period of her life during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, adding that classmates either wanted to look out for her or push her around. "I was teased a lot [...] Fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, everybody was taking their spurts except me," she said. "I was not growing up."

That being said, it didn't stop Linda Hunt from achieving her dreams. Eventually she realized that there was somewhere she could feel taller — on stage. Describing her first experience with theatre as "bigger than life," per CBS Sunday Morning, Hunt explained that as she "longed to be bigger than life" acting was an outlet to "overcome all these other feelings that you felt."

"You know what I think it was about? That I could pretend to be anything," she concluded. But first, she had to find her voice. "When I was 16, nobody else talked like me. Nobody else sounded like me," Hunt said, in reference to her more authoritative voice. When asked whether there was confidence in that, Hunt replied: "Oh, absolutely. That made me big."

Eventually that confidence would lead to her making her debut in Robert Altman's 1980 adaptation of "Popeye" (via IMDb), as well as her portrayal of Billy Kwan in "The Year Of Living Dangerously" which would earn her an Oscar for Supporting Actress (via YouTube).