Actor Jonathan Brandis, best known for Steven Spielberg’s 1993 sci-fi TV series SeaQuest DSV and starring roles in feature films like The NeverEnding Story II: the Next Chapter and the Chuck Norris martial-arts buddy flick Sidekicks, is dead at the age of 27. Brandis provided the voice of Mozenrath in Disney’s 1993 animated series Aladdin and is also credited for "additional voices" in the 1988 animated feature Oliver & Company.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cause of the Nov. 12 death is presumed to be suicide, but official word will not be issued until the results of blood and toxicology tests are returned. A friend reportedly phoned 911 from Brandis’ apartment on the night of Nov. 11, saying the actor had attempted suicide. Brandis died the next day at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Brandis got his start in commercials at the age of five and has since been working fairly steadily in film and television. In 1999, he showed up in two major motion picture releases: Hulk director Ang Lee’s Civil War drama Ride With the Devil and the Farrelly Bros.’ coming of age comedy Outside Providence. He also appeared opposite Bruce Willis in 2002’s Hart’s War, and was headed to ABC in Warner Bros. Television’s pilot 111 Gramercy Park,which the network has reportedly decided to restructure with a new cast and writing team.
