Actor Joshua Evans Dies at 20

Joshua Ryan Evans, 20, who portrayed the 8-year-old version of actor Jim Carrey in the motion picture "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," acted as a child prodigy lawyer in television's "Ally McBeal" and was best known as Timmy the living doll in the NBC soap opera "Passions," died Aug. 5 in a hospital in San Diego.

Mr. Evans had heart ailments and a rare growth disorder that limited his adult height to 3-foot-2. NBC announced that he died during an unspecified medical procedure. The network did not disclose the nature of the procedure or the cause of death.

The diminutive young man often said he chose acting because he spent so much time watching movies and television shows while he was recuperating from surgeries as a child.

"I thought, if it's all pretend, why can't I do that?" he told the Los Angeles Times in 2000 when the "Grinch" movie was released.

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The Reuters news service quoted Mr. Evans as saying that "watching movies took me away from my own problems and gave me a total escape." He added that "I knew that if I could do that for just one person -- that if I could help one person escape the way the movies helped me -- that would be a great way to spend my life."

Reuters also said that he adopted a personal motto: "It's not the size of the dreamer, it's the size of the dream."

Mr. Evans became something of a cult figure for his role as Timmy. The character, which he had portrayed since the inception of "Passions" in 1999, is a doll turned into a real boy by a resident witch named Tabitha.

Ironically, in Monday's episode -- taped last month -- Mr. Evans's character died. Mr. Evans received two consecutive Soap Opera Digest Awards for outstanding male scene stealer for the living-doll role.

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Even though his makeup as the young Grinch required 5 1/2 hours a day -- two more than that for Carrey -- Mr. Evans relished the movie role and working with director Ron Howard, a former child star. "It was wonderful," he told one interviewer. "Every time I got to see Ron it was an honor."

When the film was released nearly two years ago, Howard said Mr. Evans's role as the furry green classroom misfit was envisioned as a walk-on -- until he met the actor.

"As it turned out, he was able to create a character and generate a lot of heart for the story," Howard said then. "Josh was just delightful."

Mr. Evans played Oren Koolie, a pint-size lawyer challenging series star Calista Flockhart in two episodes of "Ally McBeal" in 1998.

The native of Hayward, Calif., also played dwarf circus performer Tom Thumb opposite Beau Bridges in the 1999 Arts & Entertainment cable presentation of "P.T. Barnum" and was one of the toddlers in the 1999 film "Baby Geniuses" starring Kathleen Turner. Mr. Evans also appeared on "7th Heaven" and in Showtime's "Poltergeist: The Legacy."

The actor got his first break in show business at age 12 when he was featured in a national Dreyer Ice Cream commercial titled "The Dancing Baby." The commercial won a Cleo Award and resulted in a role for Mr. Evans in the movie "Baby Geniuses."

Survivors include his parents and a brother.

Joshua Ryan Evans had a rare growth disorder that limited his adult height to 3-foot-2.

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