How tall is Edward James Olmos

Edward James Olmos Height

5ft 8 ½ (174 cm)

Peak height was 5ft 9 (175.3 cm)
American actor best known for playing William Adama in 2004's Battlestar Galactica and Lt. Castillo in 1980's cop drama Miami Vice. In film he can be seen in Blade Runner, Selena, 2 Guns and Stand and Deliver. I met him at a London Expo in 2007, I think he was pretty close to my height that weekend.


5ft 8 Rob with Edward

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Add a Comment49 comments

Average Guess (16 Votes)
Peak: 5ft 9.08in (175.5cm)
Current: 5ft 8.17in (173.2cm)
Sinclair said on 15/May/22
I do believe Olmos was less of a 5’9” peak than Don Johnson. I know Johnson could look shorter than Olmos occasionally but Olmos practiced superior posture and had heels on Miami Vice; I got the impression he may have been wearing lifts. These rumours also apply to DJ, but in his slipper shoes in the first few seasons, I would have thought it a great challenge to fit a lot of footwear in there.

Anyhow, only probably 0.25 of an inch between these two in the 80s. The early episodes of Miami Vice were one of the rare times you could catch DJ as 5’9” no more.
ChristianPerkins said on 16/Mar/22
Virtually the same height as Rob. More 173 than 174.
Bradley said on 9/Jan/22
I just read an interview with Leonard Nimoy in a Shatner book. Nimoy as a director wanted him to play a Klingon but had problems with his height, not his acting. He said they'd have to have on a box with Shatner if he had the role. Paramount turned him down anyway. Called him "Eddie". He's 5' 7". He's a lift guy.
Rising174cm said on 14/Dec/21
I'll buy 5'9" flat peak as he could look at least as tall as Don Johnson, if not a hair taller face to face indoors. But Olmos is definitely not above 172-173 cm range at 74. If he lost a half inch by age 60, you'd generally expect him to have lost at least that much between 60 and 74.
Canson said on 5/Oct/20
@Editor Rob: was footwear the same between you two? Would you say he was really taller than you? I see he had poor posture
Editor Rob
Back then I think 174 range was fair, in recent years he might be nearer 5ft 8 today.
Sinclair said on 19/Aug/20
I think Olmos was almost as tall as Don Johnson in Miami Vice, if not the same height. I have a suspicion Olmos could have been wearing lifts as well as Johnson in Miami Vice, sometimes Olmos looks taller than Johnson and vice versa. 5’8.75” for Olmos sounds a safe pick for his peak.
JohnMoore-162cm said on 28/Apr/20
174 cm peak
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 8/Apr/20
Doesn’t look short in Stand And Deliver (incredible movie btw), could pass 5ft10
Rising - 174 cm said on 26/Jul/18
@Visitor: I'd agree the two could look more or less the same and we're likely talking about the type of height difference that could be difficult to see in person, much less on television and in pics. I think it's likely Bruce had some sort of footwear advantage otherwise he looked near 6' and we can probably agree he was never more than 5'11.5", if that, so if DJ was a solid 5'9" as I believe he was, he must have had at least 1 cm less footwear. Loafers like that can have up to a 1 cm heel and maybe 0.5 cm insole and you're right that they can't conceal a big lift, but with the cameraman's statement and where DJ's foot sits, I think he may have had a bit bigger insole than that. Even if I'm right, this would still only bring the gain up to normal shoe range. He wore boots more in films and in Nash Bridges, but could look around 5'10" then as opposed to Miami Vice when he never really looked taller than 5'9" to me. I posted a link to the Bruce Willis episode on NBC's website on DJ's page on 13/May/17 and stills shortly after.
Visitor said on 25/Jul/18
@Rising: yeah, I've seen other episodes as well where Johnson and Olmos were up close like that. Actually some better (from further back) shots where you could see their shoes. I'd tend to agree that Olmos is most probably a bit shorter than Johnson. They were both very fit, and Olmos especially was VERY slim with VERY good posture.

About the shoes... coincidentally, today I checked how different shoes affect height. I found that Converses (no insole) boost you LESS than a cm (8 mm). On the other hand, I discovered that my old dress shoes (basic insole) boost me by 3.4 cm, and they're just regular dress shoes. From what I've seen of Johnson's shoes on MV, they're cut low at the ankle, I can't see how it'd be possible to fit any sort of meaningful lift inside. I guess that argument is on Johnson's page here :)

PMT does always look taller than DJ. It's sort of hard to imagine any of those three (EJO, PMT and DJ) caring that much about height, since John Diehl (probably quite a bit over 180 cm) is a LOT taller than any of them and Michael Talbott is I think even a bit taller still.

It's been some time since I saw the Bruce Willis episode so I can't remember the exact details... I remember noticing the height thing. I think it could have been a case of a 180 cm Willis in dress - or whatever, HEELED shoes - next to a practically barefoot Don Johnson.
Rising - 174 cm said on 20/Jul/18
@Visitor: That might have been me who mentioned that about DJ and Olmos and if you look at my post from July 25th 2017, I included a still of the two face to face indoors from the episode "No Exit" where Olmos actually looks a bit taller. You are right that loafers like that often have a small heel in the 1 cm range, but they also often have an insole that gives a bit more. In DJ's case, a cameraman who worked on Miami Vice said his shoes had lifts built in and based on how high his foot appears to sit in the shoe, I don't have a hard time believing that. This still wouldn't do much more than even them up with typical dress shoes, but it would minimize or negate the advantage. For the record I don't think Olmos was taller than DJ since I think both were right around 5'9". If anything, I'd say DJ could have been 175-176 cm range and Olmos 174-175 range, especially since Olmos was only 60 in the pic with Rob. Olmos looks to have shrunk a bit since then and I'd guess 5'8" today at 71 while DJ still looks at least 5'8.5" to me at 68. I agree Philip Michael Thomas was the tallest at around 5'9.5". Some say 5'10", but 5'11" range Bruce Willis did look a couple of inches taller in the aforementioned episode No Exit making it tough to see anything above 177 cm for PMT and all 3 were very close in height.
Visitor said on 6/Jul/18
In the picture above he looks to be exactly equal in height to Mr. Rob. Someone below mentioned Miami Vice... Olmos wasn't taller than Don Johnson or seem tall in general. The trademark for Johnson's character was the loafers without socks thing, Olmos wore dress shoes so that's at least a one inch boost. Neither of them were tall and (perhaps a bit surprisingly) the show didn't try to "work around" that, i.e. make the main character(s) seem tall like is very often done in Hollywood. The only thing I've noticed is that when they're close together in the frame, John Diehl would hunch a LOT as he is significantly bigger. But who knows if that was done intentionally other than to frame the shot better.

Overall, Olmos seemed to be close in height to Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas with the latter being possibly a tiny bit taller. All of them could reasonably be said to have been 5'9"-5'10" at that time (1984-85 anyways).
khaled taban said on 26/Jun/18
peak : 174.5cm
Current : 172.7cm
Rising - 174 cm said on 15/Aug/17
He can look at least a couple inches shorter than Lopez and half a foot shorter than Robert Rodriguez in the 2013 photos: Click Here Click Here

But not in the 2014 video I posted below. Olmos looks taller at the start of the video: Click Here Even at the end of the video, he only looks a bit shorter with worse posture. I'm convinced Lopez is 5'8.5", no more, no less, but maybe he had the 0.7" type sneakers he wears a lot then giving Olmos maybe 1 cm more footwear while it's possibly Mario wore thick boots or lifts in the photos the previous year or went up on his toes. Less likely, but I suppose possible is Olmos wore lifts or some other thick footwear for the video interview.

174 peak and 172 current is possible for Olmos, but I give him a range of anywhere from 5'8.5"-5'9" so I'd probably choose a peak height of 5'8.75", but more likely 5'9" than 5'8.5". Nowadays, I think it's whether he hits the full 5'8" standing straight or if he's a fraction below. So probably the same as Yeun, but I'm sure Yeun stands straighter so I can see him looking taller. What kind of footwear did each have?
Shredder said on 13/Aug/17
H looks way shorter than Lopez for some reason , also I thought he looked shorter than Yeun in person. He seemed about 5'7 with bad posture , so I thought maybe a weak 5 '8 standing correct.
Rising - 174 cm said on 13/Aug/17
Actually, I think Shredder is probably right that he's no more than 5'8" these days. Looks 3" taller than Cheech Marin recently: Click Here Oddly, Edward looks similar to Mario Lopez in this 2014 video: Click Here But the reason I had looked that up in the first place was I saw photos taken a year before that where Olmos looked much shorter than Lopez, truly towered by Robert Rodriguez and not that tall compared to Danny Trejo. Maybe it was the angle and Mario on his toes, but I don't find Olmos looking a weak 5'8" to Shredder hard to believe at all. It seems I thought he was a year older than he is as well, but he could look pretty close to Andy Garcia in the late 80/early 90s, so somewhere between 174-175 cm then, but I think more 172-173 range today. 1 cm loss from late 50s to late 60s is pretty normal.
Rising - 174 cm said on 25/Jul/17
He was only 60 with Rob so it's not certain he would have lost anything so 5'8.5" peak is possible, but he could seem taller than Don Johnson at times, with these an example: Click Here who I believe was 5'9" peak so 5'9" is also possible for Olmos as I'd think they were about the same height. But if Rob said they were similar, it sounds like 5'8"-5'8.25" was also possible. He would have been about 64 when he guest starred on Dexter and he was pretty much towered by Colin Hanks, who doesn't really look taller than 184 cm to me so a flat 5'8" now 6 years later doesn't seem unlikely. I think I'm leaning towards agreeing with Shredder on 5'8.75" peak and 5'8" current, but I have to look at some up to date comparisons of a 70 year old Olmos and maybe a few more 80s comparisons as DJ is a bit too enigmatic to be the perfect reference point.
Shredder said on 5/Jun/17
I think he looked barely 5'8 in person , Yeun looked taller than him.
World Citizen said on 24/May/17
Looks more like 5 ft 8 flat in this picture.
Jackson said on 14/Feb/17
don't forget he was the vilain in dexter
Shredder said on 25/Nov/16
Rob , I thought he looked no bigger than about a weak 5'8. He really didn't seem much taller than myself , not even a full 2 inches
Editor Rob
Shredder, I think he still is somewhere in 5ft 8 range, although since the time I met him that's like 7 years ago now, in that time another little fraction lost is quite believable.
josh jeffords said on 16/Oct/16
Yeah sounds spot on to me used to be slightly below average but looked avg now high side of short. "Ie below average"
He never looked tall but still did good in lead roles and carried himself well but I'm biased always liked his style stand and deliver is a favorite.
Actually that is the only example but he does good in support too.
Shredder said on 19/Aug/16
Met him and talked to him for a good bit , I say he looked in the 5'7.5 or 5'8 zone
Key said on 22/Jul/15
Both your heads are tilted a bit. His slightly more. But his hair is kind of up, while yours is flat. Giving him the apearence of being taller. I think 5'8 flat now, 5'8.5 peak.
Key said on 21/Jul/15
Looks to me like peak height was 5'8.5 but now he's 5'8
LNguyen said on 26/Nov/14
He looks a little bit shorter than you if both of you have the same shoe. Hard to say if he has a bad posture. Maybe like 172-173 cm.
Brad said on 15/Jun/14
As listed yesterday 1 foot from me.
Mr. R said on 2/May/14
I saw Eddie tonight and he was wearing cowboy boots and was still no taller than 5-8.5. He is a week 5-8. Maybe he was wearing boots with you Rob?
Trent said on 2/Jan/13
He is taller than Rob and his head is tilted down slightly. I think he was 5'8.5 or in 2007. Of course now over half a decade later he could be down a fraction.
the shredder said on 13/Feb/12
Looks around a weak 5'8 , Peak I 5'8.75 his posture don't " Stand and Deliver " !
burby said on 8/Feb/12
Looks a strong 5'8" in the photo.
runt said on 7/Feb/12
As I recall, he and Philip Thomas both looked shorter than Don Johnson
jtm said on 6/Feb/12
rob do you think he might have been wearing lifts?
Mr. R said on 6/Feb/12
Eddy is a WEAK 5-8. I see him around Hwood.
On said on 6/Feb/12
Dexter he looked near 5 inch shorter than 6'1" Colin Hanks.
Andrew said on 17/May/11
In battlestar galactica he looks 5'8. I just saw a scene of him walking next to James Callis (Baltar) for awhile, who is 5'7, and edward wasn't much taller.
Mat said on 20/Apr/11
I'd say 5'8 even is closer to the mark. 5'9 peak height.
Katie said on 16/Apr/09
Met him at Dragon*con in 2008. I'd say 5'7 for sure, though I WAS wearing 4" heels. Either way, he's quite small, and I think 5'8.75 is pushing it.
Anikko said on 5/Apr/09
He looks taller...but if you meet him in person you can see that he isn't really that tall...in BSG he just seemed like it because of the impossing nature of the character he played...I am taller than him...it was pretty cool.
Leonari said on 23/Mar/09
Rob: On Bsg is looks always a little taller than Bamber. Do you agree??
Anonymous said on 9/Nov/08
I remember a scene in which EJO had to confront guards in the new BSG, and he was staring up at them with such compelling intensity that he made himself look taller. He had dialogue about growing up as a small kid, too. I doubt he's more than 5'7".
Brad said on 10/Aug/08
He's 2" shorter than a 5' 9" Carlos Santana side by side. He's 5' 7". Wore big heels on Miami Vice.

Editor Rob
this guy wasn't shorter than me unless he was adopting poor posture which he can do. And I saw him numerous times over a weekend, and standing beside people I know.
Mr. R said on 8/Aug/08
I stand by my eyewitness account of 5-7 for Eddie.

Editor Rob
I have a photo with Eddie and seen him several times against a friend aswell. There's very little chance he's below 5ft 8. 5ft 8.5 when standing properly is my estimate.
Bassbaritone said on 29/Jun/07
He is definitely 5'9" I stood right next to him in line on a flight to Burbank from Sacramento and spoke with him in 2006. He is a very warm and genuine person. I have always been a fan of his. I am exactly 5' 11" 1/2 and he actually seemed taller to me in person than in films. He is defintely average height and not a short person compared with the other people in line.
Bleemo said on 22/May/07
I'd have agreed with 5'8 he just looks it and this show is notoriously short on the male side whilst tall on the female side. However take a look at this picture with him and Morgan freeman where he looks only 4-5 inches shorter...

Click Here

Could genuinely be a 5'9 guy, then again mabe he's a lifts man.
colbertnationalist said on 18/Oct/06
i'm a huge fan of bsg and watch it all the time. he has atleast 1 inch on jamie bamber!
Glenn said on 6/May/06
Olmos has looked between 5-8 and 5-9 to me on different occassions.
Glenn said on 13/Mar/06
Hmm.looked 5-8 to me.

Editor Rob
Mr R would probably buy that height...
Mr. R said on 17/Mar/05
Sorry, but I saw him at the LA Airport. He was on the same flight as my mother going to Baltimore. Eddy is no more than 5'7". Even a lot of the teenagers were stunned at how short he was. My eyewitness account says 5'7".

Heights are barefeet estimates, derived from quotations, official websites, agency resumes, in person encounters with actors at conventions and pictures/films.

Other vital statistics like weight or shoe size measurements have been sourced from newspapers, books, resumes or social media.

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