Ross Williams

At 5-foot-51/2, Ross Williams admits he might not be perfectly cast in the role of Gimli The Dwarf.

"It is tall for a dwarf," the 31-year-old actor concedes, "but the production does a good job of creating height disparity -- and the physical character I'm building is a few inches shorter than me."

Born on an American military base in Muenster, Germany, Williams came to roost in his home town of Huntsville, Ala., making him not only this production's only Dwarf, but its only American as well.

Trained at the Cleveland Playhouse, he was working in New York when he was cast and says he had no hesitation in trading the Big Apple for Middle-Earth.

"I'm in theatre for the creative process," he says, "and I get to be a part of this amazing experience."