Obituary
Diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was three, the actor was also an advocate for people with disabilities
RJ Mitte, the actor and advocate best known for playing Walter White Jr. on Breaking Bad, has died, Variety reports.
Mitte’s reps confirmed his death in a statement, but no cause of death was given. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of beloved actor, philanthropist, and passionate disability rights advocate RJ Mitte,” they said. “Drawing from his own experience living with cerebral palsy, Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion.”
Mitte, who was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy when he was three years old, earned rave reviews for his performance as Walt Jr.. The character had the same condition as Mitte, though more pronounced, and in a 2008 interview, the actor spoke about working hard to “blur” his speech and walk with crutches in a realistic way.
“I didn’t want to look like just another faker because I really have it,” he said. “If you’re going to do it, you have to do it the full way. No matter if you’re regressing or if you’re trying to make it look bad, you need to still try to do it right. It was hard at first, but after a while everybody would help me out.”
Mitte was a key part of Breaking Bad throughout the show’s celebrated run between 2008 and 2013. With his casemates, he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, and in 2013 he received the SAG-AFTRA Harold Russell Award, given out in honor of Russell, the first actor with a disability to win an Oscar.
Mitte was born in Jackson, Mississippi and spent much of his childhood leg braces, though he no longer needed them by the time he was a teenager. Around that time, too, Mitte’s adopted mother was partially paralyzed in a car accident, prompting him to pick up odd jobs to help support his family. In 2006, they moved out to Los Angeles and Mitte grew interested in acting. He secured an uncredited role in Hannah Montana before being cast as Walt Jr. in Breaking Bad.
After Breaking Bad ended, Mitte found regular work in film and TV. He had recurring roles on the ABC Family drama Switched at Birth and the Starz series, Now Apocalypse, and recently had a starring voice role on The Guardians of Justice, an animated superhero spoof series on Netflix.
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His film work included the 2017 sci-fi horror film The Horror and 2021’s Triumph, a coming-of-age story in which Mitte starred alongside Terrence Howard. Over the past few weeks, Mitte was making the promotional rounds ahead of the release of another new film, Talking to Strangers.
Along with his acting, Mitte worked extensively as an advocate for people with disabilities and am ambassador for various organizations, including United Cerebral Palsy and Shriner’s Children. He also headed up his own charity, the Mitte Foundation.