He’s a nightlife personality/dancer who goes by Nano (named after the iPod, but also because “nano” means dwarf in Greek)-check his Instagram and you’ll see pictures of him dressed as Captain America, Elvis Presley, Rocky from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the Indian from the Village People, and Dionysus. He is handsome and his frequent shirtlessness reveals a ripped physique. He’s currently studying to be an accountant, and in the meantime has strict boundaries between which entertainment gigs he will and won’t take. “There are jobs that are so demeaning: dwarf tossing, midget bowling,” he said.
That would make me feel objectified and not able to express myself. As an entertainer, you should be able to express yourself. When you’re doing midget bowling, you’re only there for one purpose: Be the ball.”įunes, 25, lives in Astoria with his parents, as he has his whole life. His parents grew up in Argentina and moved to the U.S. They realized he had dwarfism as soon as he was born. Giving birth to the only known member of their family with dwarfism was initially “devastating” to his parents and used by his father’s family in rural Argentina as fodder for conflict (his mother’s and father’s families have a longstanding rivalry in their hometown of Mendoza). Like many little people, Funes uses the word “overprotective” to describe his mother’s parenting.
She did not let him go outside much until he was in junior high. “There were moments that were sad,” he said of his childhood. “There were moments that I stared in the mirror hoping that one day I would change. It really depends on the mood I was feeling that day. There was an era I was depressed, around 14.”