Ian Michael Smith

Ian Michael Smith (born May 5, 1987) is an American software engineer and former child actor, known for his sole starring role in Simon Birch.^[1][2]

Ian Michael Smith
Born	(1987-05-05) May 5, 1987 (age 38) Elmhurst, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, software engineer
Height	3 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. This was Smith’s sole acting role.

After acting, 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]