Edward Nino Hernandez named as new world's shortest man

The world record for the world's shortest man has been claimed by a 24-year-old Colombian named Edward Nino Hernandez - who is just 27inches (70cm) tall. Nino has been officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's shortest man, after the previous record holder - China's 74cm-high He Pingping - sadly died in March and prompted a search for a replacement.



Nino, who weighs just 22lb (10kg), has recently embarked on a career in acting - playing a tiny drug thug who gets killed in a shootout. Nino, who says that he loves dancing, previously earned money by dancing in department stores.

His parents say that one of Nino's brother's is also short, standing at just 37inches tall, but that his three other brothers are of normal height. The couple also lost a daughter wo was of similarly short stature in 1992, just before her first birthday. A resident of Bosa, a mostly poor district of Bogota, Nino is in generally good health, although he does have some problems with his vision. He has a girlfriend, an 18-year-old named Fanny, who at just under 5ft is considerably taller than him.



He's generally okay with the attention that his height brings him, although he says: 'It bothers me that people are touching me and picking me up.' Nino says that his ambitions include owning a Mercedes, and that he would like to meet Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone and former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.