James Ransone, ‘The Wire’ Actor, Dies at 46

 James Ransone, who played Chester "Ziggy" Sabotka in 12 episodes of the second season of "The Wire," passed away on Friday. He was 46 years old.

The death was confirmed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, who said the cause was suicide.

Ransone had a career that included 20 years of working in horror and thriller movies, like "Sinister" (2012) and "It: Chapter Two" (2019).

 In a 2019 interview with The Lumberjack, he called himself an "under-the-radar character actor" and said, "I'm just a scrappy punk rocker who ended up in this weird, big cultural phenomenon."

He also mentioned that his favorite project up to that point was the HBO miniseries "Generation Kill."

"I lived in Africa for almost a year filming that — eight or nine months — and that was so awesome for a number of reasons," he said.

 "I got to spend a lot of time with vets who had just come home from the Iraq War, and my family has a long history of that. We have a lot of veterans in the family. It was just a really big, great, fun adventure that also means a lot, personally."

Ransone, who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, left film school at 19 and worked as a photographer in his twenties.

 In an interview with Interview Magazine, he said going to an arts school instead of a traditional public high school "saved" him.

He also talked about his relationship with acting and said: "I get a lot more catharsis from taking pictures or painting or making short films.

 You have some control. I think all art—if it's good—is a result of really trying to create something that you can't put into words."

He called the experience of shooting "Generation Kill" a "highlight of my life.

" "Living in Africa, being around the dudes who were being written about—since my dad is a Vietnam vet. Being around these marines who had fought in war and they were young, I got to see some version of my dad as a young man. A lot of things started to make sense to me in a different way. I became really close with Evan Wright—the guy who wrote the book [the series was based on]—and I became really close with some of the marines still to this day."

In 2021, Ransone revealed he was a victim of rape and sexual assault as a child.

 He posted a letter on Instagram that he sent to his alleged abuser, Timothy Rualo, who worked at Sudbrook Magnet Middle School at the time the letter was written. Ransone also told the police about the accusation, but was told they weren't interested in pursuing it.

James Ransone was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

 He is survived by his wife, Jamie McPhee, and their two children.