-By Jimmy Swagger, TCICWF Announcer Hello. I'm Jimmy Swagger, the announcer for the Tri-Cities International Championship Wrestling Federation. You probably haven't heard of me, since the TCICWF's weekly TV show, The Half-Hour Power Hour (it used to be a full hour, but then politics resulted in us getting our time slot chopped in half), is only on the local cable access TV station. But you will dubiously get to know me when Kayfabe, the movie about the TCICWF that I'm in, is released. When I was asked to write a weblog entry by the producers of Kayfabe, I struggled to figure out what to write about. I have two main passions in life, wrestling and midgets, but I'm not sure if either of those things is interesting enough to the general public (although they should be!). Anyway, since this is a movie site, I have decided to follow the lead of the egregious Rocket Randy Tyler and write about movies. Specifically, I'm going to describe the careers of my three favourite midget actors. (By the way, I'm aware of the debate that has been raging online, at least in some of the forums and chatrooms that I like to visit, about whether or not the word "midget" is offensive. While I respect the opinions of those people who think that it is offensive in all cases, I disagree and think that it depends on the intent of the person using the word. Be assured that I mean absolutely no disrespect when I use the word "midget", as anybody who knows me knows that I have a plethora of adoration (some people say too much adoration!) for little people.) Warwick Davis Any discussion of midget actors has to begin with Warwick Davis, the titular star of the 1988 classic Willow (which, as a bonus, also features an appearance by the legendary Billy Barty). When Willow was released, most mainstream media attention was focused on Mr. Davis' co-star, Val Kilmer. But when moviegoers attended theatres in droves to follow the adventures of plucky Willow Ufgood as he tries to protect a baby princess from the evil Queen Bavmorda (My word! Just writing that sends chills up my spine!), it was obvious who should have received top billing. In my opinion, a look at the careers of Mr. Davis and Mr. Kilmer post-Willow shows just who the bigger star of the film was. While Mr. Kilmer had some middle success following Willow, Mr. Davis appeared in a wide variety of films, including The Phantom Menace, a number of installments in the Harry Potter series, Ray, and most of the movies in the Leprechaun franchise (naturally). And he's remained relevant to the present day, with roles in the hit BBC series Extras (playing himself, with hilarious results) and 2006's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (although here, his talents were largely wasted as he was hidden behind the mask of Marvin, the eternally depressed robot). Needless to say, I can hardly wait to see him in the tantalizingly-titled Small Town Folk, which will hopefully be released later this year. In many ways, Mr. Davis is the Jackie Robinson of midget actors. Midgets had been featured prominently in earlier films, including Time Bandits (one of my all-time faves), Return of the Jedi (for my money, the Ewoks were the heart and soul of that movie!) and, going all the way back to 1939, The Wizard of Oz. However, before Davis' star-making turn in Willow, a midget actor hadn't been given the opportunity to almost single-handedly carry a movie. Simply put, Mr. Davis blazed the trail for all of the midget actors that followed him, including the two actors that I obfuscate on below. Danny Woodburn An actor that helped define the 90's for me is Danny Woodburn, who played the recurring role of Kramer's gruff pal, Mickey Abbott, on one of the most popular TV shows of all-time, Seinfeld. Mr. Woodburn started his career as a stand-in for children, a common practice among dwarves which was the inspiration for the Seinfeld episode "The Stand-In". In this episode, and in others that explored the issues faced by little people in today's world (who can forget when Kramer and Mickey were fighting over the attentions of two women, one with dwarf parents and the other without?), Mr. Woodburn played the role of the thrice-divorced Mickey with humanity and humour. You don't have to be a card-carrying member of the Little People of America (although I am, thanks to a little-known loophole in their membership rules) to understand the valuable educational service that Mr. Woodburn provided to the midget community and to the world at large during his time on Seinfeld. There is no doubt that Mr. Woodburn is best known for his role on Seinfeld. However, a look at his portentous list of credits shows that he has been more than a little busy the past 20 years. While he appeared in some films during that time (including the supporting role of Little Rocko in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas), he has largely focused on television, with roles in literally dozens of shows, including an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 ("The Leprechaun") and several episodes of Baywatch (I'll have to track these down, since I'm curious to see if he's wearing the famous red bathing suit) and Charmed. Any way you slice it, Mr. Woodburn belongs in any pantheon of great actors, big or small (the pantheon, not the actors). Peter Dinklage Finally, in my opinion, and without selling the accomplishments of the gentlemen described above short, the greatest midget actor working today has to be Peter Dinklage. You may not know his name, but if you are a fan of film you should know his work. Mr. Dinklage burst into the mainstream as a result of his role in The Station Agent. In this touching film, he portrays with incredible thespian skill Finbar McBride, a man who moves into an inherited small train station in the countryside and becomes entangled in the lives of a woman struggling with consequences of a personal tragedy and of a Cuban-American hot dog vendor. In the film, Mr. Dinklage is simultaneously uplifting and heartbreaking, as he seeks solitude from the outside world while at the same time battling the loneliness that naturally flows from his self-imposed exile. Although Mr. Dinklange achieved his fame with The Station Agent, it is his full body of work that shows just how talented he is, whether in his limited but endearing role in Will Ferrell's Elf (surprisingly, Mr. Dinklage is featured in scenes set in New York, not at the North Pole), in the TV series Nip/Tuck or in his memorable role in 1995's Living in Oblivion as Tito, a midget actor perturbed that his only appearance in the film-within-the-film is while dressed up in a powder blue tuxedo in a fantasy dream sequence ("Why does he have to be a dwarf!", Tito screams at the director before storming off the set.). The range of Mr. Dinklage's talent is proven by the fact that he has also provided voice-only work (in Seinfeld) and has even been credited for having performed stunts in HBO's Oz (don't let the title get your hopes up the series is a gritty prison drama, not a re-imagining of the Frank Baum classic involving munchkins). I think the great Roger Ebert summed up Mr. Dinklage's credentials best, when, in describing Mr. Dinklage's work in the most stirring scene in The Station Agent, he wrote "that is the moment you realize there is no good reason why Peter Dinklage could not play Braveheart.