"But after a while you learn to ignore the names people call you and you just trust who you are."
–Shrek
What are the chances that your favourite animated character happens to be inspired by someone absolutely real? Or moreover, have you ever met someone that made you feel like they just have to be the inspiration behind a specific character? The late Maurice Tillet, born on 23rd of October 1903 in the Ural Mountains of Russia, was a professional French Wrestler. As a young child he was nicknamed as ‘The Angel’ for having an angelic face, which was later turned to ‘The French Angel’ as his ring name. However, when he turned 20, he was diagnosed with ‘Acromegaly’, which is the formation of a benign tumor on the pituitary gland, resulting in thickening and overgrowth of his bones. His ailment made him look exactly like ‘Shrek’ from the Shrek movies, such that one is bound to believe that he must be the inspiration behind the character, although no such claim has been made by DreamWorks production upon confirming this. But seriously though, do I even have to say that the resemblance is so uncanny, it’s hard to believe otherwise and so, to satisfy our shocked selves, we can find peace over the fact that the creators of these characters are humans and their imagination is a collage of everything they’ve ever experienced or people they’ve met so let’s assume it was a very accurate coincidence. Either way, inspiration or not, it feels almost thrilling to know that Shrek was real.