At a young 48 years old, esteemed Broadway and daytime TV actor Jeffrey Carlson (Hitch, The Killing Floor) has passed away. According to Deadline, Carlson was known for their groundbreaking role as a trans character on ABC’s daytime soap series All My Children. Carlson began their run on the series in August of 2006 as a character called Zarf. Just months later in November of 2006, Carlson returned to All My Children as a character named Zoe.
Adam Feldman (The Tony Beat, Theater Talk), Time Out New York theater editor, was the bearer of bad news via Twitter.
Feldman said that Carlson was a “powerful actor and a painful loss.”
Carlson was known for their many performances. Carlson acted across the 2000s and 2010s in Lorenzaccio (2005), Hamlet (2007), Free For All (2017) and Romeo and Juliet (2016). It’s no question that Carlson was talented, Carlson was originally from Long Beach, California and graduated from the esteemed school Juilliard. Carlson was also known for their role as an ’80s pop British pop star named Marilyn in Taboo from 2003 until 2004. Thier Broadway debut performance was in 2003 when Carlson appeared in The Goat, or Who is Sylvia by Edward Albee (The Zoo Story, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf). Later in their life, Carlson starred in The Miracle alongside Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby, Freedom Writers) and also starred in Tartuffe.
No details were immediately available regarding the location or cause of Carlson’s passing but kind words are being shared all around. Deadline quotes an unknown person grieving Carlson saying that “we send our love to Jeffrey’s friends, family, and colleagues, those who knew and loved him dearest.”
The Shakespeare Theatre Company wrote a tribute for Carlson on Facebook stating that “STC is saddened to learn of the recent passing of Jeffrey Carlson. Jeffrey gave beautiful and nuanced performances during his career which took him from television and film to Broadway and, fortunately for us, to STC.”
Rest in peace Jeffrey Carlson.