lafayette true blood death
Nelsan Ellis, the amateur who portrayed Lafayette on all seven seasons of the HBO horror-drama series True Blood, has died at the age of 39.
"Nelsan has anesthetized abroad afterwards complications with affection failure," the actor's administrator Emily Gerson Saines, told the Hollywood Reporter. "He was a abundant talent, and his words and attendance will be always missed."
Days afterwards Ellis' passing, the actor's ancestors issued a account about his continued attack with drugs and alcohol, per The Hollywood Reporter. "After abounding stints in rehab, Nelsan attempted to abjure from booze on his own," apprehend the family's statement. During Ellis' abandonment from alcohol, he suffered from a claret infection causing his kidneys to shut bottomward and claret burden to drop. The amateur spent four canicule in Woodhull Hospital afore he died.
"Nelsan was a gentle, acceptable and affectionate soul. He was a father, a son, a grandson, a brother, a nephew, and a abundant acquaintance to those that were advantageous abundant to apperceive him. Nelsan was abashed of his addiction and appropriately was afraid to allocution about it during his life. His family, however, believes that in afterlife he would appetite his activity to serve as a cautionary account in an attack to advice others."
"We were acutely afflicted to apprehend of the casual of Nelsan Ellis," HBO said in a statement. "Nelsan was a adept affiliate of the HBO ancestors whose groundbreaking assuming of Lafayette will be remembered affectionately aural the all-embracing bequest of True Blood. Nelsan will be dearly absent by his admirers and all of us at HBO."
True Claret architect Alan Ball added, "Nelsan was a atypical aptitude whose adroitness never accomplished to affect me. Working with him was a privilege."
A alum of Julliard, Ellis' aboriginal above role was as Lafayette Reynolds, a abbreviate adjustment baker and vampire claret banker on the hit HBO series. Ellis' assuming of the appearance was so admired by True Claret admirers that alike admitting Lafayette was dead off aboriginal in the Sookie Stackhouse book series, the appearance lasted the absoluteness of the show.
"It was an absolute advantage to assignment with the phenomenally accomplished and acutely affectionate soul. I'm devastated by his abortive death," Ellis' True Claret co-star Anna Paquin tweeted.
In accession to True Blood, Ellis appeared Lee Daniels' The Butler (as Martin Luther King, Jr.), Secretariat, The Help, The Stanford Prison Experiment and as accompanist Bobby Byrd in the James Brown biopic Get On Up. Most recently, Ellis had a abiding role in the CBS detective alternation Elementary.
Actress Octavis Spencer wrote on amusing media Saturday, "Just got chat that we absent [Ellis]. My affection break for his kids and family."
