The reality show that spawned a thousand spins off’s (well, a few, at least) is back. After a mid-season hiatus, season 8 of Little Women: LA returned to our screens on July 11, giving us another glimpse into the lives of Terra, Tonya, Elena, Christy, Jasmine, et al. For anyone not familiar with the show, don’t expect a modern-day retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s classic about the March family. Rather, it’s a look into the world of a group of friends who all happen to share one common trait: dwarfism. Getting on in a world where everything from clothes to door handles to lights switches aren’t exactly designed with your body type in mind isn’t easy, but Little Women: LA is anything but a pity party. As they deal with the trials and tribulations of parenting, friendships, relationships and careers, these group of engaging, enterprising women are living proof that height is just a number.
Terra Jole
Lady Gaga and Britney Spears impersonator Terra Jole is one of the most well-known faces of the cast, having previously toured with Miley Cyrus and appeared in such movies as The Hungover Games, Austin Powers in Goldmember, and Jackass: 3D. She’s also headlined at the Las Vegas show Little Legends and featured on MTV’s True Life: I’m a Little Person. In addition to being one of its stars, Terra works as an executive producer on the show, as well as on its spinoffs, Little Women: ATL, Little Women: NY and Little Women: Dallas. Her off-screen ventures include releasing an album of children’s song called Penny’s Playlist and a parenting and lifestyle vlog, MiniMama.com. She has two children, Penelope Charlevoix and Grayson Vincent D’Artagnan, with her husband and fellow Little Women: LA star, Joe Gnoff.
Tonya Banks
Tonya Banks has worked in entertainment for years as a stuntwoman and celebrity impersonator. She’s also enjoyed considerable success as an actress and can be seen in such features as Death to Smoochy, Bad Santa, Martin, and Ally McBeal. In addition to her work in the industry, the talented entrepreneur has created a successful business empire with such projects as “Lil Boss Body Activewear”, a line of activewear designed for women of both average and small stature, and “L’Tonya Renee Red Blend Wine”, a specialty wine line. She has a daughter, Angelique Johnson, from her previous relationship with Kerwin Johnson.
Elena Gant
Russian born Elena Gant is one of the youngest members of the Little Women: LA cast, and has been a central fixture of the show since season 1. In addition to pursuing a career in graphic design, Elena also works as an actress and celebrity impersonator (Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears are all in her repertoire). Elena has been married to her husband Preston Gant since 2014. Theirs was a whirlwind romance (they dated for only 3 months before tying the knot), leading some to question whether it might in fact be a “green-card marriage”. The happy couple put the rumors to bed in 2016 when they announced they were pregnant with twins.
Christy McGinity Gibel
Even if you’ve never seen an episode of Little Women: LA, you may still be familiar with Christy McGinity Gibel. In her younger days, Christy worked on numerous TV shows and films (including Death to Smoochy, MADtv, and Ghost Whisperer) either as a standalone character or as a stand-in for child actors. These days, Christy has largely put her acting days behind her since she retrained as a financial advisor. In May 2014, she married Todd Gibel, a fellow little person she met online. As TMZ reports, the marriage has been facing difficulties for a while, and in June this year, she filed for an annulment of marriage, after previously applying for a restraining order against Todd after she accused him of impersonating her online and blocking her access to social media accounts. Christy is a mother to two kids (Autumn and Trenton) from a previous relationship.
Jasmine Arteaga Sorge
Jasmine Arteaga Sorge joined the cast of Little Women: LA in season 3, and is now a central cast member. Prior to joining the show, Jasmine, who was born with a type of dwarfism called Cartilage Hair Hypoplasia, was living her lifelong dream of working in the beauty industry as a hairstylist. As Bustle notes, her attempts to make it in the entertainment industry date all the way back to 2005 when she managed to get down to the final 100 on American Idol. She’s since appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race, The Doctors, American Latino TV, and Little Talk Live: After Show. She’s been married to Chris Sorge since September 4, 2011, and has 2 sons, Mason and Benjamin.
Mykesha Smith
Three foot, 5 1/2 inches Mykesha Smith is used to drawing stares but doesn’t let the attention get her down. “I’m older now, so it doesn’t really faze me,” she told Charlotte Observer. “The only thing that really bothers me, I would say, is when you’re old enough to know better.” Mykesha joined the cast of Little Women: LA at the beginning of season 8, but was already a well-known figure thanks to her social media activities. As one of Instagram’s rising stars, she treats her audience of 318,000 plus to a stream of creatively imagined hip-hop-inspired dance videos, all under her nickname Keeshlinooo, a tag she picked up in college. “My friend, his name is L.J. He goes by Yeddi Lino. LINO actually stands for Life Is Never Over. LINO,” she explained to Bustle. “And so he has this thing called LINO Cartel. He created it into a business where he sells apparel and everything. But he (came up with the concept) my freshman year, and all of the friends that we were around, we all stuck ‘lino’ on the back of our names. And when I was in school, I was known as Keesh. So I stuck ‘lino’ on the back of it … but made it three Os, just to make the name look different. I don’t know. I had to be extra.”Terra Jole
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