Warning: This article contains upsetting details.
James Ransone, best known for his role as Ziggy Sobotka on HBO’s The Wire, has died by suicide. He was 46. Ransone died Friday in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.
The medical examiner listed his cause of death as “hanging,” with the place of death recorded as a “shed.” Records also state that his body is ready for release.
Ransone was a married father of two, and his wife, Jamie McPhee, shared a fundraiser for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in her social media profile following his death.
His breakout role on The Wire
Ransone portrayed Ziggy Sobotka, the son of Frank Sobotka played by Chris Bauer, during the second season of The Wire. His character was a Baltimore dock worker, and Ransone appeared in 12 episodes that aired in 2003.
The critically acclaimed HBO series ran from 2002 to 2008 and starred Dominic West, Michael Kenneth Williams, John Doman, Idris Elba, Wood Harris, Lance Reddick, Wendell Pierce, Frankie Faison, and Lawrence Gilliard Jr. Ransone later attended the show’s New York City premiere in 2003 and remained closely associated with the series throughout his career.
James Ransone, best known for his role as Ziggy Sobotka on HBO’s The Wire, has died by suicide. Credit: Eric Charbonneau / Getty
A wide-ranging career on TV and film
Beyond The Wire, Ransone appeared in several other television series, including Generation Kill, Treme and Bosch. His final TV appearance came in a Season 2 episode of Poker Face that aired in June.
His film credits included Prom Night (2008), Sinister (2012), Sinister 2 (2015), Tangerine (2015), Mr. Right (2015), It Chapter Two (2019), The Black Phone (2021), and Black Phone 2 (2025).
Speaking publicly about abuse and sobriety
In 2021, Ransone came forward as a sexual abuse survivor, alleging that his former tutor, Timothy Rualo, sexually abused him multiple times over six months in 1992 at his childhood home in Phoenix, Maryland. He made the accusation public through a lengthy Instagram note he sent to his alleged abuser.
“We did very little math,” Ransone recalled. “The strongest memory I have of the abuse was washing blood and feces out of my sheets after you left. I remember doing this as a 12 year old because I was too ashamed to tell anyone.”
Ransone said the alleged abuse led to a “lifetime of shame and embarrassment” and told Rualo that it pushed him toward alcoholism and heroin addiction.
After getting sober in 2006, he said he was “ready to confront” his past and later reported the accusations to Baltimore County police in March 2020. A detective later told him that prosecutors “had no interest in pursuing the matter any further,” according to an email.
The Baltimore County State’s Attorney Office ultimately did not bring charges following the investigation, the Baltimore Sun reported.
In a 2016 Interview Magazine story, Ransone also spoke about his sobriety, revealing that he got sober at age 27 “after being on heroin for five years.”
“People think I got sober working on the ‘Generation Kill.’ I didn’t. I sobered up six or seven months before that,” he shared. “I remember going to Africa and I was going to be there for almost a year. I was number two on the call sheet and I was like, ‘I think somebody made a mistake. This is too much responsibility for me.’”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.