Jyoti Amge's best bits: A look back at the shortest woman's record-breaking journey

Guinness World Records ICON Jyoti Amge (India) turns 32 today!

The legendary record breaker is hopefully being spoilt rotten by her loved ones and blowing out the candles on a huge and delicious birthday cake.

And we thought we’d celebrate her big day by looking back at her GWR best bits!

Let’s face it, she’s an ICON for a reason…

First entering the record books

We first met Jyoti in 2009 when she was 16 years old.

After measuring in at 61.95 cm (2 ft), she officially became the world’s shortest living teenager (female).

Becoming the world’s shortest woman

In 2011, Jyoti turned 18 and became an adult.

That meant she was no longer the world’s shortest female teenager, she was now the world’s shortest woman living.

And she’d grown! Jyoti was then measured to be 62.8 cm (2 ft 0.7 in), and she’s still that height today.

Jyoti said at the time: "It is wonderful to celebrate my 18th birthday with a new world record, it's like an added birthday present. I feel grateful to be this size, after all if I weren't small and had not achieved these world records I might never have been able to visit Japan and Europe, and many other wonderful countries."

Delighting TV audiences

Jyoti is a natural entertainer who was clearly born to be a star.

Our most-viewed YouTube Short ever is this clip of her on our Turkish TV show Rekorlar Dünyasi in 2013.

In the short clip, a star of the show carried her on to the stage and put her down in front of the live audience.

Jyoti reached up to hold the presenter’s hand and twirled around to show off her beautiful traditional dress.

With a big smile on her face, she knew exactly how to work the crowd.

We posted this throwback clip in 2023 and you love it so much you’ve watched it 407 MILLION times.

Find more stories about amazing people like Jyoti in our Human Body section.

Entering her actress era

In 2014, Jyoti fulfilled her dream of becoming an actress and broke another record along the way, being named the world’s shortest actress.

She starred as Ma Petite in the fourth series of hit horror anthology series American Horror Story: Freak Show.

Jyoti starred alongside some very big acting names, including Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Even Peters, Emma Roberts and Kathy Bates.

Her character was part of a ‘freak show’ run by Elsa Mars (Lange) in 1952 Florida.

As the stars of the show try to find their place in society and Elsa does her best to become famous, a pair of con artists targets them with a sinister plan that sees many of them killed, including Jyoti’s character.

She reflected on her time on the show last year, telling us: “Many difficulties arose, however, it was the biggest achievement in my life. I am overjoyed to have worked with them.”

She added: “I am already famous as a Guinness World Records title holder, and now I am an actress. I feel very proud.”

Hanging out with the world’s tallest woman

To celebrate Guinness World Records Day 2024, Jyoti came to our headquarters in London, UK, to meet up with Rumeysa Gelgi (Türkiye), the world’s tallest woman, who at 215.15 cm (7 ft 0.7 in) tall, is a whole 5 ft taller than Jyoti.

During their time together, they sat down for an intimate chat, learning all about life from each other’s perspectives.

During their chat, Rumeysa asked: “Jyoti, I have a special question for you, and a lot of people ask this to me.

“So, let’s say a magic happens one day and you could turn into someone with average height.

“Would that be something you would prefer?”

Jyoti answered honestly: “If my height was more before the record, I would like it. But now that I have a record with Guinness World Records, I won’t like my height to increase, because the world knows me for my height and this record too.”

Breaking even more records

On her birthday last year, Jyoti added another record to her collection.

We’d set the ball rolling during her visit the previous month by measuring her tiny hands.

Keeping the news under wraps, we surprised her on her big day by announcing she officially has the world’s smallest hands on a person (female).

Jyoti’s left hand measures 7.1 cm (2.79 in) and her right hand measures 7.2 cm (2.83 in).

That’s almost half the height of a Coca-Cola can (12.2 cm; 4.8 in) and smaller than the diameter of a baseball (7.4 cm; 2.9 in).

Believe it or not, her hands are actually bigger than those belonging to Afshin Ghaderzadeh (Iran), the world’s shortest man, who is taller than Jyoti at 65.24 cm (2 ft 1.69 in).

Jyoti might be tiny, but she’s a big personality and a huge star!

We hope she has a wonderful birthday.