{"id":194454,"date":"2025-12-22T08:44:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T08:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/james-ransone-us-actor-known-for-the-wire-dies-aged-46-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T08:44:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T08:44:31","slug":"james-ransone-us-actor-known-for-the-wire-dies-aged-46-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/james-ransone-us-actor-known-for-the-wire-dies-aged-46-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"James Ransone, US actor known for The Wire, dies aged 46 &#8211; The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LA medical examiner reports Ransone, who played Chester \u2018Ziggy\u2019 Sobotka in the HBO crime drama, died by suicide<br \/>James Ransone, the American actor best known for his work in 12 episodes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/wire\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">The Wire<\/a>, has died in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/los-angeles\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Los Angeles<\/a>.<br \/>Information from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/los-angeles\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Los Angeles<\/a> medical examiner indicated Ransone, 46, died on Friday from suicide.<br \/>Ransone portrayed the dock worker turned petty criminal Chester \u201cZiggy\u201d Sobotka in season two of David Simon\u2019s critically acclaimed Baltimore crime drama The Wire. He later acted alongside Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/organgrinder\/2008\/jul\/23\/generationkilltheiraqdrama\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Generation Kill<\/a>, also helmed by Simon.<br \/>In Generation Kill, Ransone played real-life marine Cpl Josh Ray Person across all seven episodes of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/hbo\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">HBO<\/a> show.<br \/>Ransone more recently appeared in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2019\/sep\/03\/it-chapter-two-review-stephen-king-bill-skarsgard-andy-muschietti\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">It Chapter Two<\/a> as the fictional character Eddie Kaspbrak.<br \/>News of his death prompted an outpouring of condolences on social media from fans of the various productions in which he participated. One tribute in particular hailed how his work on It Chapter Two stood out on a cast whose members included Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Skarsg\u00e5rd\u2019s brother, Bill, who portrays the antagonist Pennywise.<br \/>Among those to weigh in was Ransone\u2019s fellow actor Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud, a prominent cast member of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tv-and-radio\/2025\/dec\/08\/heated-rivalry-ice-hockey-tv-show-review\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Heated Rivalry<\/a>, which is on the HBO Max platform.<br \/>\u201cRIP James Ransone,\u201d Arnaud wrote Sunday on Instagram. \u201cUnique actor that I was continuously impressed and inspired by.\u201d<br \/>Ransone was born in Baltimore in 1979. He attended the Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson, Maryland, from 1993 to 1997. He got his break co-starring in the 2002 teen drama Ken Park before landing his role on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/wire\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">The Wire<\/a> a year later.<br \/>In 2021, Ransone shared that he was sexually abused by a former tutor who worked in Maryland public schools, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2021\/05\/27\/the-wire-actor-says-a-baltimore-county-educator-sexually-abused-him-29-years-ago-and-faults-the-school-systems-response-to-his-allegations\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Baltimore Sun<\/a> reported. He wrote on Instagram that the abuse was a factor in alcohol and heroin addictions with which he later grappled.<br \/>The celebrity news source <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2021\/05\/28\/the-wire-actor-accuses-school-employee-of-1992-sexual-abuse\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Page Six<\/a> reported that Ransone in 2020 reported the abuse he described, but authorities declined to pursue criminal charges.<br \/>Ransone in 2016 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.interviewmagazine.com\/film\/james-ransone\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">spoke<\/a> to Interview magazine of how he would \u201cwrestle with the catharsis of acting\u201d.<br \/>Some of his roles called on him to humanize characters who were not likable, \u201cso I find myself living in a lot of unlikable skin\u201d, he said. \u201cAs a result of that, I don\u2019t always feel good.\u201d<br \/><em><span data-dcr-style=\"bullet\"><\/span> In the US, you can call or text the <a href=\"https:\/\/988lifeline.org\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">988 Suicide &amp; Crisis Lifeline<\/a> at 988 or chat at <a href=\"https:\/\/988lifeline.org\/chat\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">988lifeline.org<\/a>. In the UK and Ireland, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.samaritans.org\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Samaritans<\/a> can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email <a href=\"mailto:jo@samaritans.org\" data-link-name=\"in body link | mailto:jo@samaritans.org\">jo@samaritans.org<\/a> or <a href=\"mailto:jo@samaritans.ie\" data-link-name=\"in body link | mailto:jo@samaritans.ie\">jo@samaritans.ie<\/a>. In Australia, the crisis support service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifeline.org.au\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Lifeline<\/a> is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.befrienders.org\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">befrienders.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiiAFBVV95cUxOSEdBSm9iNFpjY19EanByX3VCcnBlZXFISGtIU1hsLUFyUjdhRlp2RE1aMDBtLUt1U1VkUk9DRGs3ZFFwZnVaTXJLdDJ1LXQwcGgySkViblo0QmtvbmpoWHFxTEhEc3JpOVhHS20zU1hBdmw3MXFrRW85Y2hUYk1PUXVLVjRISzd0?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LA medical examiner reports Ransone, who played Chester \u2018Ziggy\u2019 Sobotka in the HBO crime drama, died by suicideJames Ransone, the American actor best known for his work in 12 episodes of The Wire, has died in Los Angeles.Information from the Los Angeles medical examiner indicated Ransone, 46, died on Friday from suicide.Ransone portrayed the dock [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-194454","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}