MELVILLE, New York — Actor Verne Troyer, best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies, died last week. In 2011, he visited Israel. Besides visiting the Western Wall, what else did Troyer do in Israel?
A. Troyer, a Catholic, was in Israel to speak at the Youth Summit for Peace, sponsored by the Pontifical Scholas Occurrentes (“Scholas”) and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace (“Truman Institute”) at the Hebrew University.
B. Troyer traveled with a U. S. delegation from Yachad, The National Jewish Council for Disabilities, to participate in a conference in Tel Aviv sponsored by the Friends of Israeli Disabled Veterans/Beit Halochem. That organization raises awareness and funds to support social, cultural and sports training programs, as well as providing therapeutic treatment for Israeli service members injured in the line of duty.
C. Troyer was in Israel for the Israel Film Festival, where his movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, directed by Terry Gilliam, was among the films presented. Troyer played Percy, Doctor Parnussus’s confidant. The movie is memorable in part because Parnussus was played by Heath Ledger, who died part way through the filming, requiring the director to make a number of adjustments to the script.
D. Troyer filmed a publicity video about the ROI Community of Young Jewish Innovators’ $100,000 microgrants program and how it could benefit Jewish communities around the world.
E. Troyer visited the Mini Israel Park, an attraction with almost 400 miniature replicas of important Israeli historical, religious, and archaeological sites. Troyer proudly posed for a picture of himself towering over the tiny buildings and bonsai trees and posted it on Twitter, saying, “I visited a very tiny city in Israel. I was king kong!”
Link to answer:
http://rrrjewishtrivia.com/answers/verne-troyer-answer.html
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Zimmerman is the author of the Rashi, Rambam and Ramalamadingdong series of Jewish trivia e-books. Learn more at http://www.rrrjewishtrivia.com