Buddy Duress, who is best known for starring in movies including Good Time and Heaven Knows What, has died aged 38.
The actor's death was confirmed by his brother, Christopher Stathis, who revealed that Duress died in November 2023, though his passing was not made public until now.
Stathis confirmed to People that Duress had died of a "cardiac arrest from a drug cocktail".
The star was born in Queens, New York, in 1985 and found fame in the Safdie brothers' 2014 film Heaven Knows What, after having met Josh Safdie the previous year after he was released from New York City's Rikers Island prison for drug charges.
He had gone on the run instead of attending a drug in-patient program at the time, and met Josh through a mutual friend before he landed the role.
After finishing the movie, he was again apprehended by police and returned to Rikers Island and was behind bars when it premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2014.
He previously told SSense that he believed everything happened for a reason with regards to skipping the program, adding: "You know, I still look back at it. If I had went to that program, I wouldn’t have been in Heaven Knows What, and I probably wouldn’t be an actor right now. That’s the honest truth. I wouldn’t."
Following his release, the Safdie brothers asked Duress to write a journal about his prison experience, which they then adapted to become Good Time, in which he starred alongside Robert Pattinson.
His acting career continued to flourish, seeing him bag roles in The Great Darkened Days, 86'd, and The Mountain.
However, he faced yet another stint in Rikers Island after being arrested in 2019 on charges of grand larceny in the third degree.
Duress was arrested in the same year for threatening to burn down his mother Jo-Anne's house while working on Cameron Van Hoy's film Flinch, but was bailed out by his mother and the director.
Shortly after, he once again found himself in Rikers for charges of menacing and criminal possession of brass knuckles as well as a controlled substance.
Van Hoy shared his heartbreak at hearing the news of Duress's death, telling People: "Buddy was pure electricity on screen. Working with him was one of the great adventures of my life.
"He was a kind person who loved making films. Despite any troubles he was going through in life he somehow managed to put them aside when it came time to work.
"We grew quite close after the production of our film Flinch. I’m heartbroken that his life came to an end as it did."
Duress's last screen appearance will be in the upcoming movie Mass State Lottery, which is directed by Jay Karales and will be released later in the year.
Karales told the outlet that Duress was a "once in a lifetime charismatic actor and a genuinely humble man".
He added: "What happened is a tragic and frustrating loss of visceral talent. He lived like a cowboy and carrying the weight of that kind of life informed his skills and performances in a way that made him irreplaceable as an actor.
"He has unfortunately become the John Cazale of our generation."
