RJ Mitte, 'Breaking Bad' actor and disability advocate, dies at 34

RJ Mitte, who portrayed Walter White Jr. on the AMC drama "Breaking Bad" and later became a prominent voice for people with disabilities, died Monday at 34, according to an Associated Press report published by LAist, OPB, WSB-TV and News4JAX.

A local official, Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa of Cameron County, said she pronounced him dead around 1:30 p.m. at a Brownsville, Texas, residence she understood to be his. She told the AP she had no information on what caused his death and that an autopsy is planned.

On the series, Mitte played the teenage son of Walter White, a chemistry teacher portrayed by Bryan Cranston who begins making methamphetamine. Mitte appeared in nearly all of its episodes over five seasons. The program, broadcast from 2008 to 2013, recently topped a New York Times poll ranking this century's best television, the AP reported.

Like the character he played, Mitte lived with cerebral palsy. LAist and News4JAX reported that doctors diagnosed him when he was 3. In a 2014 AP interview, he said his own experience with therapy sessions, strain at home and steep medical expenses, all storylines on the show, sharpened his acting.

"You develop a different mentality and you develop a different look at how the world sees you and how you see the world," Mitte told the AP then, adding that he viewed his condition as a strength.

Mitte's representatives, in a statement confirming his death, credited his personal experience with giving the role a genuine quality. They said he turned that visibility into a platform for inclusion and awareness, working to counter stereotypes and expand representation, OPB and WSB-TV reported.

A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Mitte relocated to Los Angeles in 2006 and picked up minor guest roles on sitcoms, according to LAist and News4JAX. He joined "Breaking Bad" in 2007, when he was in his mid-teens, roughly the same age as his character.

After the series ended, he appeared on "Switched at Birth," which aired on ABC Family, and in "Guardians of Justice," a satirical take on superheroes. He also worked as a producer on a number of independent films, the AP reported.

Beyond his screen career, Mitte represented two organizations, United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children's, as an official ambassador. He was president of the Mitte Foundation, a group he started to fund charitable and community work for people with disabilities, the outlets reported.

Compiled by True News from reporting by LAist, OPB, WSB-TV and News4JAX. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/88