Ian Michael Smith

Ian Michael Smith (born May 5, 1987) is an American actor, known for his starring role in Simon Birch.[1][2]

Ian Michael Smith
Born (1987-05-05) May 5, 1987
Elmhurst, Illinois, U.S.
OccupationActor, Software Engineer
Height3 ft 1 in (0.94 m)

His short physical stature (3 ft 1 in (0.94 m)) is a result of Morquio syndrome,[3] a rare enzymatic disorder affecting the circulatory, muscular and skeletal systems.

Life and work

Smith was born in Elmhurst, Illinois. A Chicago-area hospital worker approached his parents about him auditioning for the leading role in The Mighty, a feature film about a character with Morquio Syndrome. Kieran Culkin was cast instead, but Smith was recommended for the title role of Simon Birch (1998), a film based loosely on John Irving's novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, which also called for a small child actor.

He graduated from York Community High School in Elmhurst in 2005. He has undergone several operations including a spinal fusion and two bilateral osteotomies. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009, and Gallaudet University in 2012 and now works as a software engineer. He is a co-founder of a nonprofit organization, Project Alloy, that gives assistance to underrepresented people in tech fields.[4][5] In 2019, he joined a class action lawsuit against the City of Oakland for excluding people with disabilities from the city’s rent control program.[6][7]

References
  1. Holden, Stephen (September 11, 1998). "FILM REVIEW; Tiny Boy With an Enormously Consuming Quest". The New York Times.
  2. "SIMON BIRCH". British Board of Film Classification. 1998-10-06. Retrieved 2012-12-20.
  3. Ian Michael Smith at Hollywood.com
  4. "Beyond Disability 101: Ian Smith's Hopes for Tech | Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability". longmoreinstitute.sfsu.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  5. "Reasons to be cheerful". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  6. "Renters with disabilities sue Oakland for housing discrimination". The Mercury News. 2019-08-28. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  7. "Disabled Tenants Sue Oakland Over Rent Control Laws, High Cost Of Accessible Homes". 2019-08-28. Retrieved 2019-11-23.


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