Ben Woolf, Actor in ‘American Horror Story,’ Dies at 34

Ben Woolf, an actor known for his roles on two seasons of the television show “American Horror Story,” died on Monday in Los Angeles at the age of 34. The cause was a stroke related to complications from injuries suffered when he was struck by a car, his publicist said.

Mr. Woolf, who stood at 4 feet 4 inches tall, was struck

by the side-view mirror of a passing car in Hollywood at around 9 p.m. Thursday, said Sara Faden, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department. She said the driver remained on the scene and that the department was not treating the incident as a crime. “Unfortunately it was just a tragic accident,” she said.

Born Benjamin Eric Woolf in Fort Collins, Colo., Mr. Woolf, grew up in Fairfield, Iowa, and moved to California in 2010 to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. “We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from all over the world for our beloved Ben,” his family said in a statement. “He touched so many hearts in his 34 years. His memory will live on within each of us and within his work.”

Mr. Woolf, diagnosed with pituitary dwarfism when he was a child, became known for his work on the FX series “American Horror Story,” an Emmy-nominated show that features an ensemble cast. It has new characters each season and a new story line and settings that have included a haunted house, a 1960s mental hospital plagued by demons and extraterrestrials, a coven of witches, and a 1950s carnival “freak show.”

In the first season Mr. Woolf played the Infantata, the murderous ghost of a baby-turned-Frankenstein monster by his grieving parents, and in the recently concluded fourth season he played Meep, a sideshow performer with a one word vocabulary and a gift for biting the heads off live animals.

Ryan Murphy, the co-creator of “American Horror Story,” called Mr. Woolf “One of the most inspirational people I’ve ever met” in a Twitter post as news of his death spread.

In a video interview released by “American Horror Story” in January, Mr. Woolf reflected on the difficulties of life with dwarfism. He said that people sometimes “don’t give me the value that I deserve” but that he had learned to “ignore it and do what I can do to the best of my ability.”

Mr. Woolf’s publicist, Zack Teperman, said that he was survived by his parents and siblings, who did not want their names published because of privacy concerns, and his dog, Lisa.

Mr. Woolf was a preschool teacher who recently decided to pursue an acting career full time, Mr. Teperman said. In the video interview, Mr. Woolf said he loved teaching “because when you’re with children, you kind of live in a different world that doesn’t have any rules. It’s more imagination.”