Walkthrough Matt Roloff’s entire life from the very beginning to present!
Mathew James Roloff goes by the name Matt Roloff. He is an American national. He is a television presenter, an author, an entrepreneur, a farmer and a motivational speaker. He is also the former president of the Little People of America.
Woah! It seems like he has seen some decent years. In this article, we will get deep into Mr. Roloff’s early life, personal life, professional life, hobbies & his significant achievements; in simple words – A Biography!
Early Years
Matt Roloff was born on October 7, 1961 which makes him 62 years old. His birth place is San Francisco, California, USA and now he resides in Oregon, USA. He was born with a genetic disorder causing a degenerative dwarfism known as diastrophic dysplasia.
It is a rare disorder in which the child gets 2 abnormal genes from the parents (one from each parent), ultimately, resulting in impaired bone growth and height. Due to this condition, he underwent 15 operations in his childhood. As a result of which he uses crutches to walk. He has a stature of 4 feet (1.22 m). His estimated weight is also 56 kg.
Parents
He was born to a couple Ron Roloff and Peggy Roloff, who shared average heights. His parents have been seen on the Television Series; Little People, Big World. His mother is alive. Unfortunately, his father passed away at the age of 84 years in 2022.
Siblings
Mr. Matthew has 4 siblings. Older sister Ruth, who shares the same average height as their parents. Then its Matt Roloff, who is the subject today. His middle brother’s name was Joshua. As he passed away in 1999 due to a by birth severe lung and heart defect he had, at the age of 34. The youngest brother is called Sam who is also born with diastrophic dysplasia. Sam is recognized as an artist and has also established Back-Story Underpainting.
Religion
Matt was born in a Christian family. In one of his books; “Against Tall Odds”, he has mentioned about how his steadfastness in his religion has brought him where he stands today. He states that moral values come from faith and latter brings the actual purpose. He also contributes in several Christian organizations and encourage Christian ethics.
Ethnicity
As of resources, Matt Roloff is an European-American descent like his parents.
Education
Despite his disability, he never let it overcome his interests and dreams in life!
As a child he was a lively athletic little boy. Due to his interest in farming he opted for agriculture in college. He went to college at one of the well-known in the city, California Polytechnic State University. Furthermore, very little is known about his complete academic background. We will surely update if any further discoveries are made about his education.
Family
Matt’s condition never came in way for him starting a family of his own because he found the one resonating with his life struggles. Matt Roloff married a woman named Amy. Amy also had a genetic disorder named as achondroplasia. In this condition, the child receives one abnormal gene from the parents leading to an abnormal bone growth.
Henceforth, Amy is also a short statured person. Matt and Amy crossed path with each other at a conference held by Little People of America in 1987. Afterwards, exchanged the rings and tied the knot on September 12, 1987. They both share 4 children together.
Jeremy and Zachary are fraternal twins and were born in 1990. Zachary also has achondroplasia like his mother. Couple’s third child and an only daughter Molly was born on September 17, 1993. Their youngest son Jacob was born on January 17, 1997.
Jeremy, Molly and Jacob has an average height. The couple came forward with their separation in March, 2014. The couple finally declared an official news of divorce on May 18, 2016. Now, Matt got engaged to Caryn Chandler in April 2023, his old employee and Amy is remarried to her partner called Chris Marek in 2021.
Farm
Farming is very dear to this television personality’s heart that he had bought a 34-acres farmhouse in Helvetia, Oregon in 1990. The farmhouse got expanded further by an addition of an 80 acre land purchased adjacent to the farm in 2010. In 1990, Matt began working on the farm and that’s when the real transformation began, he started producing pumpkins which were available for sale at a stand.
His passion for farming didn’t stop there and soon pumpkin patch got extended with a farm store and a corn maze. This expansion continued and today it holds a title of Roloff Farm. The farm holds several attractions like pumpkin patch, volleyball court, a three story tree house, tunnels, lake with a pirate ship, medieval castle, mine shaft and a soccer field. He has made this farm open for the public as well, for certain times a year. An estimate says to have the figure of tourists around 30,000 every year.
Career
Early Career
Initially, Roloff started by performing as a background actor in the Movie; Under the Rainbow. He was also starred as a character Ewok in the Star Wars TV movie called Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.
Matt Roloff actually started his official career in the end of 1980s. He started from a good place i.e., Silicon Valley. If we call it a tech hub that won’t be incorrect. He was working as a computer programmer for several companies in the Silicon Valley like Altos Computer Systems and then started selling software systems to various largest companies in the United States of America (Fortune 500 companies; top 500 companies enlisted in the fortune magazine).
But the work here was very demanding and tedious so Matt was advised to migrate to Beaverton, Oregon and start working with Sequent Computer Systems. Henceforth, to limit down the hectic lifestyle of the Silicon Valley Matt and Amy shifted to Portland as they were expecting their twins in 1990. Despite his hardships whether them being from work life or his own medical conditions, he never seized to increase his bank balance. As of now, his estimated net worth is to be $6 Million in 2023.
Direct Access Solutions
Matt Roloff really feels empathetic towards the people with disabilities so he tries to play his part. He has co-created a company called Direct Access Solutions, which provides handy products suitable for short heighted people to the hospitality industry.
Writings
In total, Mr. Roloff has written 3 books. Matt Roloff in collaboration with Tracy Summer (served as the ghostwriter) wrote his very first book called “Against Tall Odds: Being a David in a Goliath World” in 1999. His second book with the same collaborator/ghostwriter called “Little Family, Big Values: Lessons in Love, Respect and Understanding for Families of Any Size” came out in 2007. His recent book is a children’s book named as “Little Lucy, Big Race” came out in May 2018 which was dedicated to his grandkid, Jackson.
Humanitarian Deeds
He never misses a chance to hop in whenever he finds himself suitable of service. He is a co-creator and also works as a President of Coalition for Dwarf Advocacy, working for short heighted people. Roloff also makes kits suitable for short statured people and deliver them to hotels for convenience. Roloff also went to help a family in Iraq with three dwarf children. His trip was also recorded by CNN and the complete family also showed up on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2008.
Public Speaking
Roloff due to his exceptional activism and expertise, is very much in demand when it comes to little people’s advocacy. This article will become way too long if I state his guest appearances in different seminars as a motivational speaker. But we will still cover some of them as they are indispensably significant when it comes to Matt Roloff’s achievements.
Matt Roloff is a member of the National Speakers Association. He is also esteemed alike amongst the youth due to which he is invited in the universities like Indiana University, Minnesota St. Cloud State University. He was also spotted in the 8th annual diversity conference at Indian Hills Community College in 2011.
He also appeared as a speaker at the Kids Included Together (KIT) International Conference in 2013. Furthermore, Roloff had been given a chance to be a guest on different shows as well like, Good Morning America, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition etc.
Topics which Roloff, specifically likes to bring attention to are;
- Inclusivity
- Sales Leadership
- Winning milestones despite the setbacks and much more
Television Series
Little People, Big World (LPBW)
We always save the best for the last as a human nature, don’t we? That’s also the case right now! Let’s Dive in;
The actual recognition that this lively little man has managed to garner was through the show: Little People, Big World, he premiered on TLC, TV network. Obviously, Mr. Roloff came out as its executive producer. This series have premiered 22 seasons up till now. The purpose of this show is quite self-explanatory;
- Entertainment: By engaging with the audience.
- Public Awareness: By educating the audience, what could a little person’s life be like?
For the very first time, it aired in August 2005. It featured the daily lives of the Roloff family. It took 7 months to complete the first season. Finally, in the first season Mr. Roloff was spotted working as a consultant for a software company Amdocs.
Little People, Big World was shooted 320 days out of 365 days annually for the next upcoming 6 seasons. After the ending of its 6 seasons in December 2010, Roloff’s decided to unwind a little due to which there was no further recording until 2012. On request of the TLC channel the shooting of LPBW resumed and another season came out this time with a name of Little People Big World: Wedding Farm, consisting 6 episodes in November 2012.
Furthermore, another special came out with the name of Little People Big World: Conquering Mt. St. Helens in March 2013. There are much more specials to find in the list to make you get hooked!
Conclusion
If we assume that today the personality we got to know about is an epitome of Inclusivity, I don’t think that would be any wrong!
Matt Roloff has voluntarily spent his entire life spreading awareness regarding the obstacles dwarfs have to face in this big people’s world, whether it be by the means of a television series, public speaking or even appearing himself one-on-one in the first place for the community.
He has never shied away from presenting himself as an example to the world which makes him an exemplary little being. He is a proud father and a grandfather to his family which shows you really require will power to withstand anything that comes your way. Today’s prime lesson is, Never Judge a Book by its Cover!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. What is Matt Roloff famous for?
Ans. He is famous for his television series; Little People, Big World.
Q2. Matt Roloff’s net worth?
Ans. His net worth is estimated to be $6 million as of 2023.
Q3. Is he married?
Ans. He divorced his wife in 2016 and got engaged with Caryn Chandler in April 2023.
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