This Is Us writer, Jas Waters (Hood Adjacent with James Davis, Barbershop), has died at 39 years old, according to Variety. With no information regarding the cause of her death, the news of her passing was confirmed by the series’ writers who shared a statement on their official Twitter account Wednesday.
In the statement on Variety, they mention the impact of the writers death on their This Is Us family, and remark her brilliance as a storyteller.
The entire #ThisIsUs family was devastated to learn of Jas Waters passing. In our time together, Jas left her mark on us and ALL over the show. She was a brilliant storyteller and a force of nature. We send our deepest sympathies to her loved ones. She was one of us. RIP @JasFly. pic.twitter.com/cmrh2OO8of
— ThisIsUsWriters (@ThisIsUsWriters) June 10, 2020
Dan Fogelman, creator of the NBC series, also remarked Waters’ creative radiance in a comment he made on Twitter.
This news took my breath away. Jas was absolutely brilliant and had so many stories still to tell. She made an indelible mark on our show and my heart breaks for her loved ones. RIP @JasFly https://t.co/fAZlIjhsIH
— Dan Fogelman (@Dan_Fogelman) June 10, 2020
Born in Evanston Illinois, Waters was raised in a retirement home where she lived with her grandparents, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In an interview she did with Shadow and Act in 2018, Waters claimed that “by the time I was 8 or 9, I was like Roger Ebert.” She “had such a grasp on what made a movie good, what made a story good.” Noting her upbringing, she iterated “I’m also a poor Black kid who grew up in an old folks home. So, I understand ground-level life, and I bring that perspective to everything I write”
During her career, Waters was a writer for the second season of This Is Us. She also worked as a columnist for Vibe magazine in 2012, as well as other series on VH1 such as The Gossip Game, The Breaks, Kidding, Hardball, What Men Want and Save the Last Dance.
