The Exes

Season 3 Fridays SABC3 (*193) 21:00 Repeats Sundays SABC3 (*193) 22:00

Kelly Stables comes up short on the measuring tape – she’s just 1.52m tall! But the pint-sized actress has a giant sense of humour and that’s worked out well for Kelly, who plays Eden on sitcom The Exes (2011-2015). “Producers called me a lot of short jokes,” she laughs. “I love it. I think it’s funny.”

Kelly’s first “big” role was playing 1

a small ape in Tim Burton’s 2001 sci-fi remake of Planet Of The Apes with Mark Wahlberg. And it opened doors: “I met Rick Baker [who played an old ape] – because of my size, he figured I could double for Daveigh Chase”...

And in 2002, Kelly’s body size saw 2

her cast as Daveigh’s stunt double in sci-fi horror movie The Ring – she was 25 and Daveigh was just 12. “They brought in a contortionist to do the one scene with my leg over my shoulder, but I was a cheerleader, so I’m pretty flexible,” she says.

The 38-year-old took her work 3

home in March 2005 when she married her manager Kurt Patino. They have two sons: Kendrick Kurt Patino (3) and Kellen William Patino (1).

She’s originally from St Louis, 4

Missouri and takes her baseball team the St Louis Cardinals very seriously, warning, “St Louis is a very family-oriented town and we’re a very forgiving town – but don’t talk smack about our Cardinals!”

What she will joke about are some 5

of her auditions. “It was 2007, my manager called and asked if I’d be comfortable with prosthetics. ‘Why?’ I said. ‘Because I’ve got you an audition for a show called Cavemen… as Rocky, a 12-year-old cave boy’.” Kelly got the gig but what her manager didn’t say was that it was a guest role, not a recurring one. At least she can laugh about it!