American media have announced the death of comedian Lance Reddick at the age of 60. He was best known for his iconic roles in the cult series The Wire and the action saga John Wick.
The charismatic Lance Reddick died on Friday March 17 “of natural causes” at his home in Studio City, located in the northern suburbs of Los Angeles. He was only 60 years old.
Born in Baltimore, little Lance attends Friends School. As a teenager, he developed a passion for music and studied at the Peabody Preparatory Institute at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. Also passionate about theater, he moved to Boston and attended the Yale School of Drama in the early 1990s.
Playing in many plays, he obtained a master’s degree in fine arts in 1994. Then, he passed many castings. Lance Reddick finds his first role in the New York series, Undercover in 1996. He continues by alternating furtive appearances in the cinema (The Secrets of Silence, Curfew) and on television (New York Special Unit, The Corner).
In 2000, he portrayed his first notable character in the fourth season of Oz. It’s about a policeman becoming an informant in the prison at the heart of this cult HBO series, in order to dismantle a drug trade. With this benefit, Lance obtains more roles in the cinema, as his performances in I dreamed of Africa, Not a word, Bridget, Brother To Brother and Tennessee testify to it.
But it is on the side of the small screen that he finds his most famous role, that of Lieutenant Cedric Daniels in the HBO series On listening (The Wire). This character of an honest and hardworking senior police officer, with legendary cold blood, earns him all the praise. In 2008, after the stop of On wire, Lance Reddick finds another significant role in Fringe, a series of science fiction and horror.
This is the director of the Fringe section. Again, this character is very professional. The program lasts from 2008 to 2013. At the same time, it rotates with an impressive cadence. He thus makes some memorable appearances in Blacklist and American Horror Story, two successful series.
He also works as a voice actor on many animated programs. On the film side, he served as a supporting role in Jonah Hex, On Their Own Wings, White House Down, Oldboy, The Guest, Search Party and John Wick. In the latter, he plays the concierge of the Continental Hotel who is also Winston’s right arm. A character he takes up in the three sequels to this lucrative action film starring Keanu Reeves.
From 2014 to 2020, the Baltimore native played Chief Irvin Irving in the detective series Harry Bosch. On the big screen, Lance Reddick has appeared in The Domestics, Monster Party, Little Woods, La Chute du president, Pour l’amour de Sylvie, One Night In Miami and Godzilla vs Kong.
At the beginning of the 2020s, the charismatic comedian mainly devoted himself to dubbing and also played a recurring character in Resident Evil – The Series. Before his death, he had filmed several films and series to come, including the 4th opus of John Wick, in theaters on March 22, and the remake of the cult comedy White people don’t know how to jump.