11 of Hollywood’s tallest actors — and how they really feel about their height
11 of Hollywood’s tallest actors — and how they really feel about their height
Britt HayesTue, August 11, 2026 at 8:03 PM UTC
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Tyler Perry at The Critics Choice Association 7th Annual Celebration of Black Cinema & Television on Dec. 9, 2024 in Los Angeles; Jacob Elordi at the ‘Wuthering Heights’ photocall on Jan. 28, 2026 in Beverly Hills; James Cromwell at the 3rd Annual BAFTA/LA Tea Party in Santa Monica on March 23, 1996Credit: Michael Rowe/Getty; David Jon/Getty; Vinnie Zuffante/Getty
The big screen makes every star seem larger than life, even — and especially — the ones who are already pretty tall to begin with.
There’s a misconception that most actors are short, when the truth is that, like most people, actors are generally average in height. They just seem shorter in person because we’re accustomed to seeing them on screens, where camera angles and perspective tend to make them appear taller. The intention from a filmmaking standpoint isn’t necessarily to make an actor look taller, but when you have a cast of people with varying heights, it’s important to consider how they’ll look next to their costars.
This is why Melora Hardin was replaced with Claudia Wells in 1985’s Back to the Future, after director Robert Zemeckis famously replaced Eric Stoltz with Michael J. Fox. “Melora, several inches taller than me, was replaced in the movie after I took over as Marty,” wrote Fox in his memoir, Future Boy. “Initially, Bob Zemeckis thought perhaps the audience could look past our height difference, but when he quickly surveyed the female members of the crew, they assured him that the tall pretty girl in high school rarely picks the cute short guy.”
It’s kind of surprising in hindsight, given that directors often employ filmmaking tricks, like forced perspective, to manipulate an actor’s on-screen stature. This is also why we have such a distorted perception of how tall (or short) actors are in real life. Of course, some actors are obviously quite tall, like Ben Affleck, Alexander Skarsgård (and his brother Bill, for that matter), Dwayne Johnson, Jeff Goldblum, and Jason Momoa, to name but a handful of Hollywood’s famously tall stars — all of whom clock in at 6’ 4”, surprisingly shorter than the names on this list.
Below, find out just how tall some of your favorite working actors really are.
01 of 11
Tim Robbins
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins at a screening of ‘The Truth About Charlie’ in New York City in 2002Credit: Gregory Pace/FilmMagic
Standing at 6’ 5”, Tim Robbins remains the tallest star to ever win an acting Oscar (in 2004, for Mystic River). “With certain actors it is a problem,” the star of The Shawshank Redemption said in a 1997 interview with The Irish Times. “I guess it depends on the movie — if you’re in the central role and you’re the guy, you don’t want your co-star towering over you. I can understand that. Though I don’t have that problem!”
“But there are ways to trick it, you know,” Robbins added. “Like Jennifer Jason Leigh is five two, I think, and we did Hudsucker Proxy together, and it worked by shooting us very carefully from different angles and points of view. It all depends where you put the camera.”
02 of 11
Vince Vaughn
Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn at the Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony honoring Vaughn on Aug. 12, 2024Credit: JC Olivera/Getty
The 2001 crime comedy Made isn’t the most memorable film in director Jon Favreau’s filmography, but it’s hard to forget Vince Vaughn’s self-referential line about his height: “I’m a tall drink of water,” he says. “I gotta stretch my s--t out.”
Vaughn’s 6’ 5” stature has been used to more dramatic effect in recent years, emphasizing the imposing quality of his characters in True Detective season 2 and 2017’s Brawl in Cell Block 99. It was also a crucial element in the 2020 horror comedy Freaky, in which Vaughn plays a serial killer who swaps bodies with a teenage girl, played by Kathryn Newton, who is 5’ 5”.
“We talked a lot about the physicality of both characters,” Newton told The Wrap, explaining that Vaughn helped her figure out how to imitate his stature by focusing on “putting the center of gravity in your chest and carrying yourself just a little taller, more confident.”
03 of 11
Jacob Elordi
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie at the world premiere of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Jan. 28, 2026Credit: Olivia Wong/WireImage
It’s not always easy to be the tall guy, as Jacob Elordi can attest. The 6’ 5” actor, known for his roles in Euphoria and Emerald Fennell’s recent adaptation of Wuthering Heights, had to overcome insecurity about his height in the early days of his career.
“I used to be so sensitive about my height,” Elordi explained in a 2020 video for GQ, “because when I first started acting, literally everybody would tell me that I’d never work because they wouldn’t be able to like, partner me with people.”
On the set of Priscilla, Sofia Coppola’s 2023 drama about Priscilla Presley’s relationship with Elvis, the crew employed a few tricks to lessen the disparity between Elordi and costar Cailee Spaeny, who is 5’ 1”. Costume designer Stacey Battat told EW that the production had two sets of shoes for Spaeny — one with lower heels to wear when her feet were in the frame, and a second pair with higher heels to make her a little taller next to Elordi.
“It was hard to make them level, but it also worked in certain ways,” Battat said. “He is so much bigger and taller than her, and I think it played to the story.”
04 of 11
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey at the world premiere of ‘The Color Purple’ on Dec. 6, 2023Credit: Steven Simione/FilmMagic
Part of what makes Tyler Perry’s iconic Madea character so funny is that she’s quite tall, owing to Perry’s stature, which has been reported as either 6’ 5” or 6’ 6”. The actor and prolific filmmaker wasn’t always comfortable with his own height, but preparing for his role in 2012’s Alex Cross, in which he played the eponymous literary detective, gave him a confidence boost.
“All my life I’ve tried to hide my height,” Perry told Men’s Health. “I was taller than everybody else and stood out, so I would slouch and try to hide it, but what I’ve been able to do with my body, I’m owning it. I’m standing up when I walk into a room.”
That hard work paid off in more ways than one: As Perry revealed to Slate, his performance in Alex Cross inspired David Fincher to cast him in Gone Girl (2014).
05 of 11
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Joe Manganiello
Caitlin O’Connor and Joe Manganiello at The Art of Elysium’s 25th Anniversary HEAVEN Gala at The Wiltern on Jan. 6, 2024Credit: Araya Doheny/Getty
Best known for his roles in the Magic Mike films and on Netflix’s live-action One Piece series, Joe Manganiello is also famously statuesque. His 6’ 5” frame made him a great pick to play Vince Vaughn’s BFF in the 2025 dramedy Nonnas. It was also one of the rare times that Manganiello’s Italian ancestry factored into a role.
“I’m a foot taller than most of the other Italians that I know because of the Croatian and the German,” Manganiello told EW. “Those lengthened my brother and I out quite a bit. I’m 6 foot 5, my brother’s 6 foot 7.”
06 of 11
Winston Duke
David Jonsson and Winston Duke at the Marvel Studios Panel at the 2026 San Diego Comic-Con on July 25, 2026Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty
As the warrior M’Baku in Marvel’s Black Panther movies, Winston Duke’s height enhances his character’s formidable status. Like a few of his peers, Duke hasn’t always been comfortable with his own size. During an appearance on The Late Show in 2021, Duke told Stephen Colbert that he used to lie about his height “all the time.”
“I’m 6’ 5” and a half, and the half is a lot of difference,” Duke explained. “I thought it was so much for people and they would think it’s intimidating, so I stopped even saying the number. I would just say I’m The Rock’s height, or someone else’s height, that’s how I would put it down. I would always try to make it seem like it was normalized before it was.”
Duke, who also gave a great performance in Jordan Peele’s Us (2019), opened up a little more about the reasoning behind his insecurities in a 2022 interview on Jemele Hill’s Unbothered podcast. “I’ve always been a big — I was the big kid that turned into the big man, right? And not always in spaces of safety, you know? And there was always feelings of that I’m potentially the aggressor, that I’m potentially the one, you know, that is a threat in some way,” said Duke, explaining that being Black adds another dimension to his anxiety in predominantly white spaces.
07 of 11
Lee Pace
Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, and Lee Pace at the ceremony honoring Sir Peter Jackson with a Star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on Dec. 8, 2014Credit: JB Lacroix/WireImage
The Foundation star’s height is so well known that it’s become something of a meme, and even inspired cinephile merch purveyors Super Yaki to create a short-lived (and endlessly ripped-off) line of stickers and shirts proclaiming “Lee Pace is 6’ 5.””
“I am more than just 6’ 5” you know?” Pace joked in an interview with Esquire. “I do wonder sometimes how all this happened. How did I end up doing this absurd thing with my life — which I enjoy very much. I don’t know if there was another option. I don’t think there was, actually. I don’t know if there’s anything else I could have done. I mean, there’s other things that I do in my life. You know, reach things on high shelves. I do a lot of work at the farm.”
08 of 11
Bo Burnham
Elsie Fisher and Bo Burnham at the 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Feb. 23, 2019 in Santa Monica, Calif.Credit: Araya Doheny/Getty
As a comedian, Bo Burnham has heard all the jokes about his height. In a conversation with NPR’s Terry Gross following the release of his feature directorial debut, Eighth Grade (2018), Burnham confirmed that he’s 6’ 6” — “Unfortunately,” he added — and that he spent many years feeling uncomfortable about it.
“I have just recently in the last year tried to stand up straight because I always didn’t. I always slouched,” he explained. “It’s like a nightmare if I ever go to a theater to watch a play or something and, like, you can just see the people watching me walk down the aisle like, please, no, please, God, no. And I have to give, like, hunched standing ovations.”
“6’ 6” is too much. Like, 6’ 2” — cool,” he continued. “You know, 6’ 6” is, like, oh, boy. I get a lot of, do you play basketball, which is, the response is, do you play mini golf?”
09 of 11
Nicholas Braun
Nicholas Braun and Andy Cohen as he visits SiriusXM Studios on May 6, 2026 in New York CityCredit: Roy Rochlin/Getty
Before he landed his breakout role as cousin Greg on HBO’s Succession, Nicholas Braun had a hard time getting cast due to his height. “If there’s a father and he’s shorter than 6’ 2”, I have no chance of playing his son,” the actor told ABC’s Peter Travers. “I’ve lost a lot of roles because of my height, because it’s hard to photograph people. Or they don’t want to put the lead actresses on apple boxes, which I understand.”
“I was in a movie once where it was a walk and talk through a high school,” he continued. “The actress that was playing my love interest, she and I were walking. They gave her a track of apple boxes, 20 pieces of wood lined up and taped together. Luckily they weren’t sliding around. And she couldn’t walk loudly because it would make noise on the wood. That sort of stuff is awkward I guess.”
10 of 11
James Cromwell
Julie Cobb and James Cromwell at PETA Honors at Paramount Pictures Studios on Sept. 18, 1999Credit: Vinnie Zuffante/Getty
At 6’ 6”, the legendary James Cromwell was perfectly cast as Braun’s grandfather on Succession. Surprisingly, Cromwell wasn’t cast in a leading role until 2013, when he starred opposite Geneviève Bujold in the romantic drama Still Mine.
“I don’t look like a leading man, whatever they look like,” Cromwell explained to Interview magazine. “I’m a character actor. Nobody’s ever seemed to think of me as a leading man. I’m 6’ 6”. I’ve got a big nose. I’m gangly. I’ve got crooked teeth. That’s certainly not Brad Pitt.” Potato, potáto.
11 of 11
Brad Garrett
Ray Romano and Brad Garrett at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 14, 2025Credit: kevin Winter/Getty
Of course, no list of the tallest working actors would be complete without Brad Garrett. At 6’ 9”, the Everybody Loves Raymond star is perhaps the tallest of his cohort, an aspect he’s used to his advantage as a comedian.
“I became a stand-up because that was my survival,” Garrett told SFGate. “I was a 6-foot-tall 13-year-old who couldn’t play basketball. I moved around all the time as a kid, and at each new school the coach would say, ‘He’s the great white hope’ — but I couldn’t play ball. So my thing was jokes and characters and making fun of myself and being the 6-foot-9 Jewish guy. That was my way into show business.”
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
