Who knew that Shrek was based on an actual person?

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Here’s something I bet almost none of you know (including myself up until ten minutes ago): Shrek was actually based on a real guy.

No, not Mike Myers, rather his name was Maurice Tillet, a man with a disease called acromegaly which caused him bones to grow uncontrollably and ended up making him disfigured.

Rather than hiding in a locked room for the duration of his life, Tillet used his deformity to become a wrestler known as the “freak ogre of the ring,” but later everyone started calling him “The French Angel” once irony became cool.

Tillet was also a very intelligent guy, and a writer who spoke 14 languages. He fought until he died in 1954 when he was 51. Before that however, he had his face casted, and one of the casts made its way to the New York Barbell museum where it’s supposedly the basis of the animated character. With those features and the “ogre” moniker, it’s hard to believe that’s not the case.

Thanks to slices-of-life for the info, and you can check out more of Maurice below.