Laurel Griggs died on Nov. 5th in New York City after suffering from a massive asthma attack, her family told The New York Post. She was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital where they tried to save her to no avail according to her heartbroken grandfather David Rivlin. “The world lost a real princess who only wanted to make the future happy for all,” he said in a Facebook message. “Acting was a just a childhood dream come true and she had big plans for the future.” Social media has been lit up with emotional messages for Laurel since word first broke about her passing on Nov. 9. “My heart goes out to the Griggs family,” someone tweeted on Nov. 10.
Laurel attended the Clinton School in the Chelsea neighborhood, which closed for a half-day on Nov. 7, the day of her funeral service at Park West-Riverside Chapels, according to her family. They also said that a remembrance service will be held in the afternoon of Nov. 10 in Chelsea to celebrate her life.
She had a very successful career for someone who was so young. Laurel made her Broadway debut alongside Scarlett Johansson, 34, in the play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 2013. She also spent nearly two years, between 2013 and 2015, performing as Ivanka in the Tony-award winning Once the Musical and had two uncredited appearances on the long-running NBC late-night sketch series Saturday Night Live in 2017.
Laurel’s former Once costar Lucas Papaelias, 43, wrote a heartbreaking tribute to her on Instagram on Nov. 10 alongside a photo of them on set. “We will never forget this sweet, talented young soul,” he said in part.
Her IMDb page lists a lot of wonderful traits about the late actress including her charitable work with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, her life in New York City with her parents Elizabeth Rivlin and Andrew Griggs and how she enjoyed everyday activities like swimming, singing and ice skating.