Breaking Bad actor RJ Mitte dies aged 34

Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told the Associated Press that she declared Mitte dead on Monday at about 1.30pm in Brownsville, Texas, at a place she believed was his home. He was 34.

BBC News and TMZ have reported that he died by suicide. In an earlier AP report, Hinojosa said she could not provide a cause of death and that an autopsy would be carried out.

For Emma Livingstone, founder and chief executive of Up – the Adult Cerebral Palsy Movement, Mitte’s portrayal mattered because his *Breaking Bad* character had cerebral palsy without the condition being the focus of his role. From a performer’s perspective, actor Ruth Madeley highlighted what that visibility could mean for aspiring performers, telling the BBC that, when she was younger, acting had not seemed like an option. She described Mitte as an example for young people considering the arts, while stressing his talent as a performer.

Mitte spoke about that relationship between experience and work in a 2014 AP interview. He said living with a disability had given him a different perspective on how he saw the world and how others saw him – something he regarded as an asset in acting.