- Lance Reddick was best known for his roles in HBO’s ‘The Wire’ as well as the ‘John Wick’ film series
- He married his wife Stephanie Day in 2011, 12 years after meeting in a Minneapolis theatre where they both worked
- He held two degrees, including a Masters from the Yale School of Drama
Lance Reddick is dead at 60 years old. The actor, who is currently in the midst of promotion for the latest John Wick film with Keanu Reeves, was found in his Studio City area home on Friday, March 17 around 9:30 a.m., per police sources via TMZ. His passing was confirmed by his publicist per the New York Times, however, a cause of death has yet to be released.
On social media, it appears that Lance was happy at home: he posted a social media video with his pet dogs on Wednesday, March 15 — but curiously was not at the New York City premiere with the rest of his cast mates. Online, it also says that he was set to be on Kelly Clarkson‘s talk show next week to promote the action flick.
Outside of his latest film, the Baltimore native is best known for playing Baltimore Police Department officer Cedrick Daniels in all five seasons of HBO’s The Wire, as well as hit series like Lost, Oz and Fringe. Learn more about Lance below.
He was from Maryland
Lance was born in Baltimore, Maryland on June 7, 1962 to parents Dorothy Gee and Solomon Reddick. As a child, he was a student at Friends School of Baltimore, later pursuing musical studies at Peabody Preparatory Institute as well as the Walden School.
He has two degrees
Lance went on to pursue both music and acting professionally, and studied both at the post secondary level. After starting to study music in his adolescent years, he applied his passion and talents to earning a Bachelor of Music from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. He was then accepted into the prestigious Yale School of Drama, where he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1994.
He was an established actor
Lance had an extensive acting resume that spanned three decades. While some of his most known roles include the John Wick series and HBO’s The Wire — the latter of which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2005 — he also appeared in some other major shows. He held a recurring role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and acted in shows Oz and The West Wing.
He also had some big roles coming up, including playing the ancient Greek god Zeus in a new Disney+ series dubbed Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which he proudly posted about on Instagram.
He was married
Lance wed the love of his life Stephanie Day in 2011. The Los Angeles based duo tied the knot in Minneapolis, Minnesota which is Stephanie’s hometown — and also where the couple first met in 1999. Back then, Stephanie was working at the Guthrie Theatre where Lance was acting in a play. The pair looked so in love on their special day in images shared with Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.
He is also survived by his two children Yvonne Nicole Reddick and Christopher Reddick.
He was a proud dog dad
Lance often posted about his four-legged pals on Instagram, revealing he and Stephanie had four total, including Miss Marigold, Ron, and Tilly (a fourth rescue, Rita, passed in 2021). Back in December, he posted a video of himself in bed, writing, “I don’t think I’m sleeping in this morning… #dogsofinstagram” as the trio barked in the background! Eventually, the pups joined him in bed as he wrote, “What ever happened to peace and quiet in the mornings?”
His final post on Instagram was fittingly a post about his dogs.