CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses Suicide.
American actor James Ransone, best known for his role as Ziggy Sobotka in The Wire, has died at age 46.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed that the actor died from suicide on Friday, December 19. He was reportedly found in his shed in Los Angeles, according to The New York Post.
Ransone played the dock worker-turned-criminal Ziggy Sobotka throughout season two of The Wire. He also played adult Eddie Kaspbrack in It Chapter Two, and had roles in Sinister and Black Phone 2.
The actor was always open about his struggles with heroin addiction. In a 2016 interview with Interview Magazine, Ransone said that he got clean at age 27 after being on heroin for five years. He also admitted he no longer found acting therapeutic.
“I still wrestle with the catharsis of acting. I don’t end up playing a lot of likeable characters, so I find myself living in a lot of unlikable skin,” he said.
Ransone said because he doesn’t play the most pleasant or good-natured characters, the result is that he didn’t “always feel good”.
In the same interview, Ransone said it took him a while to embrace that people recognised him for playing Ziggy in The Wire.
“I mistook people’s perception of me as a projection of them thinking that I was weak or incompetent or that I was that person,” he said.
“It’s part of what I did. I should accept that my career wouldn’t be as rich as it is had I not done that.”
Ransone alleged in March 2021 that he had been sexually abused by his former tutor numerous times at his childhood home in Phoenix, Maryland. It allegedly occurred over the course of six months in 1992.
He posted a lengthy email on Instagram that he’d sent his alleged abuser that stated “we did very little math”, and that he was “too ashamed to tell anyone”. Ransone said that this led to a “lifetime of shame and embarrassment” for him, and is a factor that led him down the path of alcoholism and addiction.
According to Page Six, while Ransone reported the abuse he described in the email to police in 2020, Baltimore County State’s Attorney Office did not pursue any charges.
Ransone was a married father of two children. Since his death, his wife Jamie McPhee has posted a tribute to him on Instagram.
“I told you I have loved you 1000 times before and I know I will love you again. You told me — I need to be more like you and you need to be more like me — and you were so right. Thank you for giving me the greatest gifts — you, Jack and Violet. We are forever.”
McPhee has set up a GoFundMe page to help support her two children in the wake of Ransone’s passing.
Help is available.
If you’re in distress, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or chat online. If it’s an emergency, please call 000.
Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
Reach out to Headspace or Beyond Blue for support, or make an appointment with your GP.
Image credit: Getty / Jamie McPhee / Instagram
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