Mark Povinelli

Mark Povinelli is an American actor, activist, and radio host born on August 9, 1971, in Elyria, Ohio, the youngest of four children in a family of average-size siblings and parents. He is of Italian descent. Povinelli stands 3 feet 9½ inches tall and weighs 75 pounds as a result of spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a skeletal dysplasia caused by a mutation in the COL2A1 gene. He graduated from Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Maryland in 1989, and earned a degree in Mass Communications with a minor in Theater Acting from Miami University in 1993. His older brother Brian, a marketer, was an early influence on his decision to pursue acting.

Povinelli's work spans stage, television, and film, with a range that includes drama, comedy, and fantasy. His Broadway career includes a 1998 appearance in the musical The Wizard of Oz. On the stage more broadly, his credits encompass works by William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, as well as a 2003 appearance in Lee Breuer's production of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, retitled Mabou Mines DollHouse, in which he played Torvald Helmer. The New York Times wrote of that performance: "The men embody small-minded convention and stunted possibilities...Mr. Povinelli makes us feel Torvald's repressive sexual virility at every turn." In 2015, he appeared at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Belle Epoque, playing Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. In 2023, he starred in The Return of Benjamin Lay, a one-man show written by Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker, which premiered in London before touring the East Coast. The play imagines the noted abolitionist Benjamin Lay returning to the present day. His performance during the New York run earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance in 2025.

In film, Povinelli appeared as an Elf in the 2004 feature The Polar Express and played Kinko opposite Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Christoph Waltz in the 2011 film Water for Elephants. That same year he appeared in Jackass 3D. In 2012, he played Half Pint in Mirror Mirror, which starred Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer, and Lily Collins, and also appeared in The Hot Flashes. In 2021, he was cast in Nightmare Alley as The Major. Additional film credits include Beer for My Horses, Epic Movie, Employee of the Month, Pawn Shop Chronicles, and Jackass 3D.

Povinelli's television work includes appearances on Boardwalk Empire, Modern Family, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Pushing Daisies, Criminal Minds, Breakout Kings, and Charmed, among many others. In 2012, he was cast as a series regular on the NBC sitcom Are You There, Chelsea?, starring Laura Prepon, playing Todd the bartender — a distinction that made him the first little person cast as a series regular on a network studio sitcom. From 2015 to 2016, he had a recurring role as The Cat on the Amazon Studios original series Mad Dogs, which also starred Steve Zahn and Michael Imperioli. In 2018, he portrayed Billy Barty in the HBO film My Dinner with Hervé.

Beyond performing, Povinelli is a social activist focused on the rights of people with dwarfism. In June 2017, he was elected President of Little People of America, an organization founded in 1957 by Billy Barty that promotes awareness, advocacy, and medical assistance for individuals with forms of dwarfism. Since 2014, he has co-hosted Perfectly Imperfect Radio on LA Talk Radio. Povinelli currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Heather Davis, and their two children. His brother-in-law, Erik Davis, served as the 2020 El Presidente of Old Spanish Days Fiesta and works as a television executive.