Good American Family: What is Imogen Faith Reid's condition? Everything to know about the actress who plays Natalia Grace in Good American Family

Imogen Faith Reid stars in Good American Family as Natalia Grace, whose adoptive parents are played by Ellen Pompeo (Kristine Barnett) and Mark Duplass (Michael Barnett). Reid is diagnosed with dwarfism, more specifically, Russell-Silver Syndrome. The eight-part miniseries premiered on Hulu on March 19, 2025, and will air its finale on April 30, 2025.

Good American Family is created by Katie Robbins, who also serves as the showrunner alongside Sarah Sutherland. The series is executive produced by Erin Levy, Niles Kirchner, Dan Spilo, Laura Holstein, and Liz Garbus, among others.

It is based on the real story of Kristine and Michael Barnett's adoption of Natalia Grace, which led to a highly publicized court case and made headlines worldwide due to the startling claims made by the family.

The show's official synopsis, as per Rotten Tomatoes, reads:

"Told from multiple points of view, as a means to explore issues of perspective, bias, and trauma, this compelling drama is inspired by the disturbing stories surrounding a Midwestern couple who adopts a girl with a rare form of dwarfism."

It continues:

"Mystery emerges around her age and background, and they slowly start to suspect she may not be who she says she is. As they defend their family from the daughter they’ve grown to believe is a threat, she fights her own battle to confront her past and what her future holds, in a showdown that ultimately plays out in the tabloids and the courtroom."

Everything to know about Imogen Faith Reid's dwarfism

Imogen Faith Reid was born on May 1, 1997, and is a native of the United Kingdom. Like her character Natalia Grace, she has dwarfism and stands at 4 feet 3 inches tall. Moreover, her type of dwarfism is different from Natalia's and is called the Russell-Silver Syndrome.

As per Medline Plus, dwarfism is characterized by a height of less than 4 feet 10 inches in adults. Imogen Faith Reid's specific type is marked by a low birth weight and a reduced growth rate. She also has curved pinkies and blonde hair due to her condition, as she told Popsugar UK on March 28, 2025.

The 27-year-old Imogen Faith Reid revealed in the interview that she is often mistaken for a child due to a lack of awareness about her medical condition.

"People don't often know that I am a little person and just think I am a child. I think this is because of the lack of information there is out there about dwarfism and that there are different types that people just don't know about. This type of dwarfism makes me in proportion. My family explain(s) it to people as me being similar to Thumbelina, as she is just a tiny character."

Imogen Faith Reid went on to add that her small stature requires her to adapt to her living conditions, but that people with dwarfism live pretty ordinary lives overall.

Imogen Faith Reid's character in Good American Family explored

The drama thriller series centers on the Indiana couple Kristine (Ellen Pompeo) and Michael Barnett (Mark Duplass) adopting the seven-year-old Natalia (Imogen Faith Reid) in 2010.

The first four episodes of Good American Family focus on the story from the Barnett's perspective, while the next four episodes relay the story from Natalia's point of view.

The couple also has three biological sons, Jake, Ethan, and Wesley. Natalia bonds with Michael, but keeps her distance from Kristine. However, Natalia's increasingly violent behavior makes Kristine uncomfortable, and the latter gets convinced she is an adult posing as a child after noticing signs of puberty in the seven-year-old girl.

The couple changes her official age to 22 years in legal documents and leaves her alone in an apartment to fend for herself. But Natalia's short stature makes it difficult for her to use any appliances or cook for herself. She finds support in her kind neighbor, Cynthia Mans, and begins to rebuild her life.

Over time, she assimilates into the Mans family, who decide to legally adopt her. They reach out to the Barnetts, living in Canada now, to reage her to a child so that the adoption process can go through.

But they fear that proving her to be a child can also make them guilty of child neglect and abuse, and hence, they refuse.

In the penultimate episode, Natalia sues the Barnetts, and the case goes to court, which garners significant media coverage. The final chapter of their story will unfold in the finale, slated to air on April 30, 2025.

All episodes of Good American Family are available to stream on Hulu.

About the author

Deepti is an entertainment writer at Sportskeeda. She comes with more than 6 years of experience in the creative writing field and has written extensively for the entertainment and travel domains.

She holds a degree in Chemistry, but her true interest always lay in the creative field. A passion for reading from a young age fueled her desire to make a career change later in life and take up writing as her profession.

Apart from reading, her hobbies include watching movies, listening to music, and going to the beach. In her free time, she can be found looking up reviews of new and old films to add to her watchlist. She also enjoys watching foreign language films that help expand her knowledge base regarding different cultures around the world.

Asked to describe herself, she would promptly mention that she is a die-hard Swiftie and enjoys nothing more than listening to Taylor Swift songs on loop while writing.

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Edited by Prem Deshpande