At the Manila International Film Festival, dela Cruz's starring role in the Agent OO's sequel For Your Height Only (1981) outsold every other local production on foreign sales.

Following this, dela Cruz appeared in the D'Wild Wild Weng (1982), The Impossible Kid (1982), as Agent OO, and The Cute...

Eventually, his managers Peter and Cora Caballes changed professional paths and dela Cruz never worked again in the media industry.

When his mother was pregnant, she didn't know until the doctor informed her, and when she gave birth, his size was "no bigger than a small Coke bottle".

His premature state forced dela Cruz's parents to place him in a shoe box under a light as a rudimentary incubator, feeding him with a dropper.

With a medical condition known as primordial dwarfism,[1] it caused him to reach the height of only 2 feet 9 inches (0.83 meters) tall.

[3] In 1978, dela Cruz shared the top billing with actor Ramon Zamora in Chopsuey Meets Big Time Papa.

[4] Comic actor Rodolfo Vera Quizon Sr., better known as Dolphy, was friends with Peter Caballes, who introduced him to dela Cruz.

Quizon felt he could use dela Cruz in a comedy film and hired him to act for his company RVQ Productions.

[19] On December 25, dela Cruz shared the top billing with Berting Labra and Pia Moran in The Cute...

[22] Peter and Cora Caballes retired from filmmaking circa 1987, and dela Cruz returned to his hometown, under the care of his family.

[28] On August 29, 1992, Ernesto dela Cruz, age 34, died in Pasay, of a heart attack due to hypertension.