Eric Cullen

Eric Robertson Cullen (12 July 1965 – 16 August 1996) was a Scottish actor, who was famous for his role as Wee Burney in BBC's Rab C. Nesbitt. Cullen was born with achondroplasiaa type of dwarfism. Early life He was born to a single mother and was adopted by a family from Hamilton. He was diagnosed with achondroplasia at the age of seven. Acting career Cullen began acting when he was at school. He started to find roles appearing in several theatre groups before appearing in several Scottish TV programmes in the 1980s, particularly A Kick Up the Eighties. Cullen eventually found lasting fame playing the youngest son, Wee Burney, in the first three series of Rab C. Nesbitt. However, he left the programme in December 1993; owing to personal problems and citing ill health. Victim of abuse Cullen was sexually abused by a violent paedophile ring from the age of thirteen, and since his condition meant that he looked much younger than he was, this abuse continued into his twenties. Once he became a successful actor, his abusers returned to extort money with menaces. As a result, he developed clinical depression and post traumatic stress disorder.