Little Person, Lizzie Martinez,

She is a little person who stands only 3’ 7” and is the only little person in her family. She began writing at a young age and had some of her poetry placed in the National Library of Congress when she lived in Michigan. Lizzie flourished in her writing career and wrote a bio for Chat Magazine UK and around the same time had her first book “Capturing Silence: Silenced Poetry” published. She was so proud of the work that she had completed that she kept writing more and more. While many at this point didn't believe she should continue. Those people wanted her to fail because they too had failed so many times to count that they easily gave up, but not Lizzie. She continued.

As of these last few years, Lizzie has begun writing scripts and became a script writer for Glass Asylum Productions until the recent death of the director and founder of the company. She still continued to write her own material. Lizzie found it hard for little people to break into the film industry. No one was willing to give her a chance and big named agencies would tell her unless she was a well known actor there they weren’t trying to put an unknown little person in the industry. She had an agent at one point who dropped her because she felt Lizzie wasn’t doing enough to get into the industry but advised her to write. So that is exactly what she did. Lizzie wrote “The Short Audition” which is on Amazon. It’s a satirical take of what it’s been like from the beginning to the end of an audition for her over the years. It’s not as easy as agents think it is for little people.

Agents have this mindset that they don't know how to "sell" or promote a little person to film and unless you are already in the industry then no one else can get in. So most agents will drop their little people clients because they can't find them work and then make it seem like it's the little person's fault for not "doing more" to be seen. Most auditions are very specific in what they seek from "Seeking 5'0", athletic, red-haired woman" we'll use that as an example and there are no auditions seeking "Little people under 4'5" so then because we don't fit what the industry calls for we are booted. I spoke to several agents from Chicago, to LA, to NY, to GA, to Miami who literally has been honest about saying it's hard to get little people into the industry because we don't know how to promote them. It's easier for you to jump out of a cake at a birthday party than anything else. It seems to be easier for little people to find themselves in degrading opportunities than to be taken seriously.

Most little people find it easier to do circus acts, "midget tossing", porn or other degrading things than to be taken seriously in movie roles UNLESS you are already a little person actor and they reuse the same little people over and over. So when it comes to inclusivity to little people, that hasn't happened yet. Where is the love story of a tall man going after the woman he loves being a little person? Where is the female little person I can look up to when I look in movies?

I am an actor and am still waiting to see changes made for us ALL! It should be common to see not only someone in a wheelchair on tv but little people and more of us with special needs. There is a need for little people on the front of BIG NAMED magazines as well. There needs to be inclusivity for us all. Little people have still been treated like freaks or sideshow acts. Some of us, including myself, are expected to perform a trick. Those days should be gone but until we are taken seriously and given serious roles to play and not use the same little people over and over then nothing will change.

Lizzie also wrote, “The Shrew” – a little woman like herself becoming a superhero in her own community. Wanting to stop the crime that has become out of control. Along the way, she comes across an ex-superhero and his friends to help update a new suit for “The Shrew” to fight the bad guys.

Lizzie has also completed “Beautifully Unkept Girl” – a fiction/nonfiction MATURE book. Reader Discretion is advised. As well as “Blinded by Bittersweet Symphony” – poetry book based on life experiences and those she has seen around her. Being a little person is more complicated than it seems and each relationship is different so Lizzie tried to explain down to certain details what she has encountered and how it’s affected her in a unique and beautiful way and she explains … her character explains why the book is named what it is.

Lizzie continues to write books and scripts. Turning some of her scripts into comics and/or novels. Lizzie has been told she is too short to succeed but she has proven so many wrong and hopes that these books will be picked and put into captivating films for tv. She has no time to give up now for she has achieved too much to stop because someone doesn’t agree with her material. She strives to be better.

Lizzie is also working on 2 new books. Another poetry book and a sequel to Beautifully Unkept Girl.

I hope this information is helpful for all of you who are struggling like myself. Keep going. Don't let anything stop you. Keep pushing yourself. You CAN do it! I believe in you and so proud of how far you've come.