[2][3] This title has been confirmed by the Guinness World Records in the summer of 2007; Fingleton took over from Christopher Greener who stood at 7 ft 6 ¼ in (229.2 cm) in height.

In 1997, Fingleton moved from Durham to Worcester, Massachusetts, and began attending Holy Name Central Catholic High School, graduating in 2000.

[5] Fingleton's coach was J. P. Ricciardi, who would later become general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.

[5] Fingleton was awarded a basketball scholarship to the United States first playing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

[9] In the 2005 NBA Development League Draft, the Austin Toros selected Fingleton as the eighth pick in the fifth round.

On 6 December 2005, Fingleton started playing with the English Basketball League team Tees Valley Mohawks.

[11] After an injury forced him to retire in 2007, he returned to his home city of Durham to pursue a career in showbusiness.

On the Guinness World Records website, Fingleton says:I am one of three siblings – my sister who is 6'3" is the eldest at 30, my brother is 6'8" who is 29 and I am 7'7" at 26 ... my mother is 6 foot and my father was also.

He played Russian General's Bodyguard 1 in the Fox Studios film X-Men: First Class, and he provided the motion capture for the CGI character Ultron (which was voiced by James Spader) in the Marvel Studios film Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Fingleton appeared in a two-part serial written by Toby Whithouse for the 9th series of Doctor Who, filming in January 2015 in Cardiff.