Nelson de la Rosa

Birthday: Sep 6, 1968

Bio: Cited in the 1989 Guinness Book of World Records as the shortest known adult in existence at that time, the two foot, four inch-tall Dominican actor Nelson de la Rosa achieved some notoriety when producer Edward R. Pressman cast him in his mind-numbingly awful, ill-advised sci-fi horror opus The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), helmed by John Frankenheimer. In the… More Bio: Cited in the 1989 Guinness Book of World Records as the shortest known adult in existence at that time, the two foot, four inch-tall Dominican actor Nelson de la Rosa achieved some notoriety when producer Edward R. Pressman cast him in his mind-numbingly awful, ill-advised sci-fi horror opus The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), helmed by John Frankenheimer. In the film, de La Rosa plays Majai, one of mad scientist Moreau's (Marlon Brando) genetic creations. De la Rosa also entered the public spotlight in 2004, when he became fast friends with another native Dominican, the Boston Red Sox player Pedro Martinez, and frequently turned up in that team's clubhouse during its run to the World Series pennant, cheering the team on to victory. De la Rosa, who was married and had a nine-year-old son, died of unknown causes in Providence, RI, on October 22, 2006. He was only 38. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi