RJ Mitte, star of Breaking Bad, dies aged 34

US actor RJ Mitte, best known as Walter White Jr in the crime drama Breaking Bad, has died aged 34. His representatives confirmed the death on Monday, 12 October. Mitte died in Brownsville, Texas, and no cause was given.

The representatives described him as an actor, philanthropist and passionate disability rights advocate. They said that Mitte lived with cerebral palsy himself, which brought authenticity to his role, and that he built a platform around disability awareness and inclusion.

Role in the series

In the AMC series, Mitte played the son of the high school chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin, a part played by Bryan Cranston. He appeared in 56 episodes. The show is often cited as one of the best television programmes of all time. His character, like the actor, had cerebral palsy.

Besides Breaking Bad, Mitte had roles in several other series, including Switched at Birth and The Guardians of Justice. Just days before his death he was promoting a new film, Talking to Strangers, billed as a "romantic tragedy". Earlier this month he appeared on the Joe Vulpis Podcast, speaking at length about his time on Breaking Bad and noting that his character was based on a real-life friend of the show's creator, Vince Gilligan.

Work off screen

Mitte was an outspoken advocate for disability representation in entertainment. He was an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and president of the Mitte Foundation. In a 2015 interview with the Guardian, he said that a disabled actor playing disabled characters accepts the risks and these parts, but that what matters is showing the inner strength people have.

Mitte was born in 1992 and raised in Mississippi by adoptive parents. In a 2016 Guardian interview he said he learned he was adopted at the age of eight.