RJ Mitte, Young Star From 'Breaking Bad' Has Passed Away At 34

Image Source: NDTV

RJ Mitte, actor and disability rights activist passed away on October 12th at the age of 34. Police have confirmed that the star took his own life, but that the investigation is still ongoing.  This has come as a shock to the Breaking Bad fandom, where he is best known for his portrayal of Walter White Jr. He’d engaged with fans just eight days prior at the Balloon Fiesta in Alberquerque just eight days prior, along with castmate Luis Moncada.

RJ Mitte was born in Jackson, Mississippi and was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at the age of three. He took up acting as a way to make friends and caught the bug. After registering to a background actor agency, he was picked up by Disney, and soon got work in Hannah Montana, and Everybody Hates Chris. When Mitte was just 13, a month after the birth of his baby sister, a family tragedy meant he became a breadwinner and parent.

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 “She [Mother] was in a car accident – a car ploughed into her at 40mph – and ruptured her spine. Afterwards, she couldn’t lift Lacey because of the operations she’d had. So I took care of Lacey. There’s a 12-year gap between us and her dad wasn’t really around, so I guess I was a bit of a father figure to her as well as a brother. I changed her diapers, made up her bottles, fed her, rocked her, bathed her – everything, I did it.” – RJ Mitte

At 16 he was cast in Breaking Bad, and more top of the call sheet roles soon followed, such as Campbell Bingham in Switched at Birth, Mind Master in Guardians of Justice, and the voice of Lorenzo in HCBS Final Rule: Animated Series.  An in-demand actor, he had six projects in the pipeline in various stages of production, including Cassi, the Dove Cameron movie directed by up-and-comer Josh Webber.

But RJ Mitte will also be remembered for how he advocated for greater inclusion and representation of disability onscreen. He has fundamentally changed how Cerebral Palsy is perceived and is proof that an actor with CP can be ‘booked and busy’.  No matter how or why his life ended, his talent and his message are what should be remembered.

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Source(s): Mirror Independent Deadline

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