Breaking Bad actor RJ Mitte dies aged 34 — SkimNews
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- RJ Mitte died at age 34 in Brownsville, Texas, with his representative Sean Reilly confirming the death to the BBC and noting no immediate cause was provided.
- Mitte is best known for playing Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan Cranston's drug kingpin character on Breaking Bad, which aired on AMC for five seasons from 2008 to 2013.
- Mitte, who lived with cerebral palsy himself, drew on his own experience for the role — which was originally based on showrunner Vince Gilligan's late friend with a more severe case of the condition — and won a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2014.
- Mitte served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children's and founded The Mitte Foundation to support philanthropic efforts and 'challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation for people with disabilities,' Reilly said.
- Breaking Bad earned 58 Primetime Emmy nominations and won 16, including two for Outstanding Drama Series in 2013 and 2014, and is widely credited as one of the best US TV series of the 21st century.
- Mitte was actively discussing Breaking Bad's legacy just weeks before his death on the Joe Vulpis Podcast, calling it 'still, in my opinion, an anti-meth thing because it doesn't end well for anyone.'
- Mitte's other on-screen credits include Hannah Montana, Switched at Birth, Westhampton, and his latest project Talking to Strangers, released earlier this year.
Why it matters: Mitte's death at 34 removes a prominent Hollywood advocate who leveraged a landmark role to push for on-screen representation of people with both visible and invisible disabilities. His foundation and ambassadorships with United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children's continue, but the industry loses a visible standard-bearer speaking from lived experience — and the undisclosed cause of death leaves unanswered questions for the disability community he championed.
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