James Ransone, the versatile character actor who graced the screens in "The Wire," "Tangerine," "Generation Kill," "It: Chapter Two," and "The Black Phone," passed away on December 19th at the age of 46. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, Ransone took his own life.
Born on June 2, 1979, in Baltimore, Ransone studied at the George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology before attending the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan for a year. His first onscreen credit came in 2001's "The American Astronaut," but he truly made a name for himself in 2003's "The Wire." He played the mischievous Chester "Ziggy" Sobotka in season two of the HBO drama, which centered on street-level drug dealing in the Port of Baltimore. In the show, Ziggy was the goofy and brash failson of the respected union leader Frank Sobotka. Despite appearing in only 12 episodes, he became one of the most memorable characters of the second season of this highly influential crime drama, and fan-favorite scenes include Ziggy taking his duck to drink at the pub and also repeatedly exposing himself (Ransone wearing a particularly large prosthetic penis).
In interviews, Ransone revealed that playing the Ziggy character had a shadowy effect on his life and career after "The Wire" ended, particularly after the show became a cult favorite with a dedicated fanbase. Ransone would work again with "The Wire" creator David Simon on the HBO miniseries "Generation Kill" (2008) and the HBO drama series "Treme" (2010-13). In "Generation Kill," the searing Iraq War drama based on Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright's non-fiction story, Ransone played Corporal Josh Ray Person, a member of a Marines battalion during the 2003 invasion. Ransone's witty character had some of the most memorable lines in the series, particularly in his interactions with Alexander Skarsgård's character Sergeant Brad "Iceman" Colbert.
Ransone also starred as Chester in Sean Baker's 2015 breakout film "Tangerine," playing the shady boyfriend and pimp of a trans sex worker. In 2019, he played Eddie Kaspbrak in "It: Chapter Two," alongside Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, and Bill Skarsgård. In the sequel, set 27 years after the first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club had grown up and moved away until a devastating phone call brought them back.
Ransone continued to shine in roles such as Max in 2021's "The Black Phone" and 2025's "Black Phone 2," starring Mason Thames and Ethan Hawke. The first installment centered on a 13-year-old boy held in a soundproof basement by a sadistic, masked killer, who soon discovers that he can hear the voices of the murderer's previous victims through a disconnected phone on the wall.
Ransone's acting credits span dozens of other projects including "Poker Face," "SEAL Team," "Deadwax," "The First," "Mosaic," "It Happened In L.A.," "Bosch," "Sinister 2," "Oldboy," "Low Winter Sun," "Empire State," "Sinister," "How to Make It in America," "Hawaii Five-0," "Law & Order," "Nola," and "Third Watch." In 2021, Ransone revealed on social media that he had been sexually abused as a child, accusing a former tutor of repeatedly sexually assaulting him in the early 1990s when he was 12. In his Instagram post, Ransome wrote that he had endured a "lifetime of shame and embarrassment" from the abuse and struggled with drug addiction in the years after.
