Tom Sizemore, a gruff, charismatic actor whose career was sometimes overshadowed by his chaotic personal life, has died. He was 61.
Sizemore was born on Nov. 29, 1961, in Detroit. After graduating from Wayne State University in Detroit with a bachelor’s degree in theater in 1983, he earned a master’s in the subject from Temple University in 1986. Three years later, he kicked off his acting career, making his debut on TV, in Gideon Oliver, and on film, in Lock Up, which starred Sylvester Stallone.
In a long and varied career that flipped between working with directors such as Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Michael Mann and Ridley Scott and swathe of forgettable titles straight-to-video, Sizemore appeared in the likes of Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Heat, Natural Born Killers and Born On The Fourth Of July.
Outside of his acting work, his personal life was a whirlwind of drug addiction, lawsuits, domestic abuse accusations accidents and stints in rehab.
“I should have been dead many times over, and honestly, I didn’t know that I was going to come back from the bottom I dropped to,” Sizemore told Deadline in a 2011 interview. “The fact that I’m now sober over two years — and that I’m acting as much as I did before — proves that people can overcome obstacles even when they’re sure they can’t.”
Sizemore collapsed on 18 February, suffering a brain aneurysm caused by a stroke and had been in a coma since then. He died on Friday.
"It is with great sadness and sorrow I have to announce that actor Thomas Edward Sizemore aged 61 passed away peacefully in his sleep today at St Joseph’s Hospital Burbank,” the actor’s manager Charles Lago said in a statement. “His brother Paul and twin boys Jayden and Jagger were at his side. The Sizemore family has been comforted by the hundreds of messages of support and love shown to their son, brother and father. They are asking for privacy during this difficult time and I am asking for those wishes to please be respected.”