James Ransone, ‘The Wire’ actor, dies by suicide at 46
James Ransone, known for his role as Ziggy Sobotka in The Wire and numerous other HBO projects, has passed away at the age of 46.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, Ransone died by suicide on Friday in Los Angeles, News.Az reports, citing The New York Post.
He was a married father of two. His wife, Jamie McPhee, shared a fundraiser for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) on her social media profile following his death.
The medical examiner’s report listed Ransone’s cause of death as “hanging” and his place of death as a “shed.” His body is ready for release, according to official records.
The Post has reached out to reps for Ransone and “The Wire” creator David Simon for comment.
Ransone portrayed Frank Sobotka’s (Chris Bauer) son, Baltimore dock worker Ziggy, in the second season of “The Wire.”
He appeared in 12 episodes total in 2003.
The critically acclaimed HBO series aired from 2002 to 2008, starring Dominic West, Michael Kenneth Williams, John Doman, Idris Elba, Wood Harris, Lance Reddick, Wendell Pierce, Frankie Faison, Lawrence Gilliard Jr. and more.
Ransone also had roles in the shows “Generation Kill,” “Treme” and “Bosch.” His final TV appearance was in a Season 2 episode of “Poker Face” that aired in June.
In film, Ransone starred in “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).
In 2021, Ransone came forward as a sexual abuse survivor.
The actor said that his former tutor, Timothy Rualo, sexually abused him numerous times at his childhood home in Phoenix, Maryland, over the course of six months in 1992.
Ransone made the accusation public by posting a lengthy note on Instagram that he sent his alleged sexual 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.”
The alleged abuse led to a “lifetime of shame and embarrassment” for Ransone, who told Rualo his actions propelled him to become an alcoholic and a heroin addict. After getting sober in 2006, Ransone said he was “ready to confront” his past. He later reported the accusations to Baltimore County police in March 2020.
A detective then told Ransone in September that prosecutors “had no interest in pursuing the matter any further,” according to his email.
The Baltimore County State’s Attorney Office ultimately did not bring charges following the police investigation, the Baltimore Sun reported.
In 2016, Ransone revealed in an Interview Magazine story 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.”
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