40 Leading Hollywood Men Under 6 Foot

Movie magic means actors strutting away shrapnel-free from billowing explosions, cars transforming into walking robots, and making a 5' 7" Tom Cruise appear formidable beside a 6'1" Henry Cavill. It's all about angles. And platform shoes. And because of all that magic, we forget that some of the most exciting, ass-kicking actors are actually smaller than they seem on screen. (Except for the Rock, Arnold, Jason Momoa, Idris Elba, and Chris Hemsworth; they are actually gods.) Off screen, Frodo is taller than Harry Potter and Ant-Man is far from the shortest Avenger. Here are a few other actors whose height you may not have known.

Let's start with maybe the most famous case of short action stars: Tom Cruise. Even though Cruise has been kicking ass at that height for years, some think he's too short to play ass-kicker Jack Reacher. Great, give us more Ethan Hunt then.

Statham may not be short short, but when your action co-star is 6'5" Dwayne Johnson, you look pretty ... short. Still, Statham has the athleticism to perform moves The Rock can't. Consider it a trade off.

In order to tower over Pacino, Robert De Niro (5'10") reportedly wore 4" platform shoes on set of Martin Scorsese's upcoming film The Irishman.

There's been plenty of controversy over Lee's characterization in Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. But 5'9" actor Mike Moh got the physique pretty dang close.

The muscles help Marky Mark stand up against larger costars. And then when you put a gun in his hand ... well, height matters a little less then.

Another short-ish Boston boy. Too bad Damon's always seen next to 6'4" bud Ben Affleck.

Sherlock is a solid 6' (and so just misses this list). In the novels, however, Holmes is well over 6', making a shorter Watson appropriate.

According to fan communities, Frodo is about 3'6", making Wood a shire giant.

Fan analysis places the literary Harry Potter at about 5'9". But even with this modest height, Radcliffe falls a bit short. Still, actor Emma Watson (Hermione) is also 5'5" and Rupert Grint (Ron) is 5'8", so who can really tell?

It makes sense that 6'1" Harrison Ford would call a young Luke Skywalker "kid." Luckily for Skywalker, Leia actor Carrie Fisher stood at 5'1".

RDJ is our first Avenger entry who is actually shorter than Ant Man. In fact, most of Earth's mightiest heroes are sub six foot. Stay tuned.

Standing next to Denmark's Nikolaj Coster-Waldau 6'2" certainly doesn't help. Kit, however, is used to height jokes from his very tall costars. His hair helps him out.

Even as a 24-year-old playing a highschooler in Back to the Future, Fox was a short adult kid.

The siblings have starred together in four films.

Luke is far from being "short," but standing next to his brother Chris (6' 3"), yeah, he's looking a little tiny. The God of Thunder will do that to you.

Can you guess what other sub 6' actor's giving Clooney the bunny ears?

Brad Pitt! The Ocean's costars are just flirting with 6 foot glory. George must be slouching here.

Phoenix will reprise the Joker role from taller actors in Heath Ledger (6'1") and Jack Nicholson (5'10").

Chan started his career working as a stuntman on Bruce Lee films. Chan has a little over an inch on his idol.

Bogart would have been considered taller than average during his cinematic, er, height.

In Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, McQueen is played by lookalike actor Damien Lewis. Lewis is 6'1".

Li proves you don't have to be tall to kick some serious ass. That said, he often plays quiet, pacifistic men. It's always the small quiet ones you gotta watch out for.

McAvoy just misses the average height of his Scottish countryman: 5'9".

Tucci proves that dressing slim can help you look taller.

The two Italian-Americans just fall beneath the average height for Italians: 5' 9½". That's taller than American males ... because stereotypes are wrong.

Matched up against 6'5" Dolph Lundgren (Drago) and 6'2" Carl Weathers (Creed) doesn't make you look any taller. Chuck Wepner, the real-life boxer upon which Rocky is loosely based, was 6'5".

Paul Rudd's Ant Man might take crap for being the shorter Avenger, but this is the second hero on this list that Rudd can see over. Rudd is 5'10" (1.78 m).

Another shorter Avenger than Ant Man: the Hulk? Irony. Ed Norton, however, that previous Marvel Hulk, stands at 6' (1.83 m).

Aaaand another Avenger shorter than Ant Man. Seriously, Scott should stop taking shit.

Craig is the shortest actor to play James Bond. His muscular stature reflects a stockier, more rugged 007.

From one hit franchise to another: Spiderman. We should remember, though, that Parker is only a highschooler.

Garfield is certainly the tallest Spiderman. Still, the height on Peter feels a bit off. Something about the character requires shorter spunk.

Holland is also the youngest Spiderman, cast when he was still 19. And while he may look short next to his mentor Iron Man, Holland is only half an inch shy of RDJ.

Even as an old, mostly-seated boss, Vito Corleone seems to tower over everyone. Not the case with Brando. Robert De Niro who plays younger Vito also stands under 6' (De Niro is 5'10".)

Even in 1950, Dean would have been considered shorter than average. Yet even today in 2019, he is considered far cooler than average. So ... you know.

Redford is still kicking butt at 83 ... and making great sartorial choices.

Rocketed into action stardom with 24, Sutherland showed that smaller men who go entire days without using the restroom can still save the day. Most inaccurate part of that show: the effectiveness of torture.

Standing next to a 6'5" Armie Hammer would make just about anyone look short. Still, you almost expect Depp to be shorter than 5'10". Must be all those slimy, slouching characters.

For some reason, Jared Leto just seems ... tall. Maybe it's the long hair and lanky body. Not that 5'9" is short (the author writes, nervously).

Don't think Yeun is leading man material? You need to check out Burning. He's probably a better villain than Leto, honestly.