Lance Reddick, John Wick And The Wire Star, Dead At 60
Lance Reddick, star of The Wire and John Wick, has died at the age of 60.
According to TMZ, Lance Reddick was found dead in his home, the cause is unclear, but authorities are saying it is natural causes. The actor believed that you couldn’t be a victim, that if you wanted to make movies, then you just had to get up and make movies. The star of John Wick, Resident Evil, and The Wire became one of the top character actors in the business.
Lance Reddick was born in Baltimore, MD, in 1962 and spent his early life pursuing music as he studied the subject at the Peabody Preparatory Institute, the Walden School, and studied classical music composition at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, earning a Bachelor of Music degree. Once he completed his musical studies in his thirties, he furthered his education in fine arts when he attended the Yale School of Drama and got another degree in 1994. That led to his first acting gig in an episode of New York Undercover in 1996.
He appeared in a few episodes of TV series like The West Wing and Oz, along with appearances in films with big names like Great Expectations with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke and The Siege with Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis. In 2002, he landed the role that broke his career when he starred as Cedric Daniels in one of HBO’s most lauded series, The Wire. He appeared in the first five seasons (60 episodes) as the police officer turned defense attorney that took place in his hometown of Baltimore, MD.
When he was finished on the series in 2008, he didn’t waste any time landing another significant role in the FOX series, Fringe. He starred in 90 episodes as Special Agent Phillip Broyles, the Special Agent in Charge of the Fringe section of the Department of Homeland Security. The series also starred Ana Torv (The Last of Us) and 90s icon Joshua Jackson (Dawson’s Creek, The Faculty, The Skulls) and ran for 100 total episodes.
When the series ended in 2013, Lance Reddick again wasted no time in landing what would be the role that introduced him to a larger audience when he played Charon in John Wick opposite Keanu Reeves in 2014. His role as the front desk/concierge/dog sitter/fellow gunman became one of the more beloved of the series, and he appeared in the next two installments. He was in the middle of the press tour for the fourth installment set to release later this month.
His deep voice, bright smile, and charismatic demeanor made him one of the best in the industry and the best part of many projects. Lance Reddick has a few projects he was working on that have yet to be released, such as Ballerina (John Wick spinoff starring Ana de Armes) and his role as Zeus in Disney+’s Percey Jackson series adapted from the Rick Riordan novel series.
