Guessing a celebrity's true height can be really tough. Between sky high heels and movie magic, it can be hard to know if a celeb is head and shoulders above their co-stars or merely standing on an apple crate to measure up for kissing scenes and other key shots. (The latter is what 5'3" Natalie Portman had to do in Thor so she wouldn't be towered over by 6'3" Chris Hemsworth.)
With the average height for women coming in at 5'4" and the average height for men at about 5'9", many celebs fall in that range. But all of the celebs on this list blow those height stats completely out of the water — men and women.
You probably guessed that the following stars were tall, but did you know they were this tall?
Taylor Swift
Height: 5'11"
The "Me!" singer called herself "the latest developing human in the world" because she grew an inch during one year in her early 20s. (Forget peaking in high school!)
Blake Lively
Height: 5'10"
The Gossip Girl star, who is married to hunky actor Ryan Reynolds, didn't always find it so easy to find a guy. In fact, her height often got in the way.
"I love really high heels, so it becomes a problem sometimes," she told Access Hollywood in 2012. "I just feel like huge … you don't want to feel like the man."
Good thing Ryan is 6'2" tall, or he might not have made the cut.
Nicole Kidman
Height: 5'11"
Nicknamed "Storky" because of her height, Nicole Kidman was the girl in high school that no one wanted to dance with. But Kidman used her height to her advantage after her publicly acrimonious divorce to the diminutive Tom Cruise. When asked by Late Night host David Letterman what she'd do after the divorce, Kidman quipped, "Well, I can wear heels now."
Joe Manganiello
Height: 6'5"
The Magic Mike XXL star, and husband of Sofia Vergara, has women swooning over his powerful physique, but insists his size can be a drawback.
"All the Academy Awards winners during the '40s, '50s, '60s … they were all super tall," Joe Manganiello told Movieline. "For whatever reason, we live in an era right now where leading men are short, so I have run into difficulty at times because with the leading men on projects, my height is a concern."
Uh, who's concerned? The guy is gorgeous.
Bill Murray
Height: 6'2"
The cranky St. Vincent star has been making audiences laugh for decades since he started on Saturday Night Live. And the tall funnyman used his size to his advantage to ease his nervous co-star Melissa McCarthy, who was terrified to meet him, she told Ellen DeGeneres. After literally picking her up, Bill Murray said Melissa "looked shorter, and yet very much taller than I expected." Needless to say, Melissa wasn't nervous anymore, but she did ask Bill to put her down.
Khloé Kardashian
Height: 5'10"
The reality TV star towers over her tiny sisters Kourtney and Kim Kardashian, both of whom barely top 5' tall. Khloé Kardashian, who's 5'10", admits being taller can be tough on a woman's self-esteem, saying, "They are 5' and 5'2", so I look massive next to them. Everyone expects me to be 9' tall and weigh 200 pounds [when they meet me]."
Kimora Lee Simmons
Height: 6'
The Baby Phat founder and mother of four was 5'10" by the time she was 11. To help encourage her, Kimora Lee Simmons' mother enrolled her in modeling classes. By 14, Kimora won a modeling contract with Chanel. So, yeah, being tall has its perks!
Vince Vaughn
Height: 6'5"
The True Detective star has always used his height to his advantage. Even actress Mindy Kaling publicly expressed her crush on him when she visited Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show in 2014.
The funny lady said of Vince Vaughn, "He is so hot … that guy is so tall. He's like a redwood. … The Vince Vaughn National Park is a park I would like to go to."
Howard Stern
Height: 6'5"
Despite his self-deprecating humor, Howard Stern's wife, model Beth Ostrosky, says she's very happily married to the lanky radio host.
"Everybody thinks, 'Oh, you're married to Howard Stern … You must be laughing all the time,'" she told Access Hollywood. "Yes, we are laughing all the time, but our lives together, it is not crazy. We go to bed at 8 o'clock at night, even on the weekend, just because that's our schedule. He gets up early for his radio show. We are definitely not wild and crazy."
Jane Lynch
Height: 6'
The Glee star has always been comfortable with her height, telling More magazine: "My mother was very good about our height. She's 5'8", and that was tall when she was growing up. She taught us to carry ourselves. I didn't suffer too much over it. And I'm in proportion — I don't have real long arms or legs. It's not until I stand up that people go, 'Oh, my God. You're tall!' I guess I wasn't creepy tall. A lot of it had to do with the way I presented myself."
Good for her!
Conan O'Brien
Height: 6'4"
We usually see Conan O'Brien sitting down behind a desk on his late night show, so it was surprising for us to learn that he's fairly tall. At the 2015 premiere of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, he towered over the movie's three stars. Conan even made hunky Liam Hemsworth look short, and Liam is a whopping 6'3".
Maria Sharapova
Height: 6'2"
Tennis doesn't really seem like a sport for super tall people the way basketball or volleyball does, but tennis pro Maria Sharapova just happens to have a way above average height. She's pictured here with tennis legend Billie Jean King who is way shorter than Maria at just 5'5". Height doesn't make or break a tennis star, but it sure is interesting to know just how tall Maria is.
Joel McHale
Height: 6'4"
Comedian Joel McHale is always making self-deprecating jokes, so we totally didn't suspect that he's actually very tall. He's pictured here with his Community co-star Gillian Jacobs, who is a full foot shorter than him. Even in heels, the 5'4" actress barely reaches Joel's shoulders. Guess he can't really make any negative height jokes about himself, huh?
Michelle Obama
Height: 5'11"
The former first lady is a force to be reckoned with, thanks in part to her height. She and her husband Barack Obama are actually the same height, but when she wears heels, she's even taller than him. It's no surprise that the Obamas' daughters Malia and Sasha are also super tall as well. It just runs in the family.
John Corbett
Height: 6'5"
It's not hard to be taller than Sarah Jessica Parker. She stands at just 5'3". But at 6'5", her Sex and the City co-star John Corbett absolutely towers over her, as we can all see in this picture. No wonder Sarah always had to wear heels every day on that show. She wouldn't have been able to kiss John's character otherwise!
Brooke Shields
Height: 6'
Fashion designer Eileen Fisher had to physically look up at Brooke Shields when they both hit the red carpet at the 2019 AAFA American Image Awards. Brooke is tall for a woman, and she stood about a head above Eileen. Add some heels, and Brooke can easily hit 6'3" or even 6'4" depending on the height of the heel.
Gwendoline Christie
Height: 6'3"
Now that we know how tall Brooke Shields is, it makes it even clearer how tall Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie is in contrast. She makes Brooke look short! We knew that Gwendoline was taller than average, since a big part of her GoT character was how she towered over others, but we had no idea she was this tall.
Tyler Perry
Height: 6'5"
It seems like every day we learn something new about Tyler Perry. First it was that he stepped up to help pay for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's security when the royal family cut them off, and now it's that he's secretly a super tall guy. We never thought he was short, we just didn't expect that he was that tall.
Princess Diana
Height: 5'10"
Speaking of the royals, Princess Diana was one of the tallest royal women at 5'10". Kate Middleton is an inch shorter, and Meghan Markle is just 5'6". Diana was the same height as her former husband Prince Charles, which would have made her taller than him when she wore heels. We imagine that must have been a big dent to his ego.
Blake Shelton
Height: 6'5"
Gwen Stefani could wear the tallest heels she could find, and she still probably wouldn't be able to catch up to her towering fiancé. She's only 5'6", which puts her nearly a foot below where Blake Shelton measures. That's how he was able to still look so much taller than her at the Grammys, despite Gwen wearing stilettos.
