Justin Pierce Found Dead
November 13, 2000
Independent film actor Justin Pierce, best known for his role as skate-punk Casper in the controversial 1995 film Kids, was found dead after hanging himself in a swank Las Vegas hotel room. Authorities said today that Pierce's death was clearly a suicide. Pierce, 25, was found hanging in his room at the Bellagio resort Monday by hotel security officers and was pronounced dead at the scene, said Clark County Coroner Ron Flud. He added that two suicide notes were found at the scene, but would not reveal their contents. "Hanging is the cause of death and the manner of death is suicide," Flud stated. Toxicology tests were pending to determine whether Pierce had any drugs or alcohol in his system. Pierce, a Los Angeles resident, had apparently been in the desert city to do a video shoot for a fashion company. According to the New York Post, he had a new wife and baby at home. The young actor recently starred alongside Ice Cube in this year's comedy Next Friday. He also appeared on a few episodes of the Fox family show Malcolm in the Middle. Pierce got his break while he was noticed skateboarding on the streets of Manhattan, N.Y., which earned him the chance to portray a foul-mouthed street urchin in Kids. For a while, Pierce dated his Kids co-star, Oscar-nominated actress Chloë Sevigny Boys Don't Cry "He was a sweet and talented kid," producer Cary Woods, who worked with Pierce on Kids, told the Post. Eerily, one of Pierce's lines from Kids features his character speaking about mortality: "My outlook on the situation: It's like getting fame, you know what I'm saying? Say you was to die tomorrow, right, 50 years from now, all the virgins you ever fucked are gonna remember you. Right? They gonna tell their grandkids …" Pierce is the second young actor to hang himself in Las Vegas in the last two years. In March 1999, David Strickland, who played a rock critic alongside star Brooke Shields on the now-defunct sitcom Suddenly Susan, was found dead in his room at the Oasis Motel on the famous Strip. Shields, a friend of the actor, had hired a private investigator to track down Strickland when he missed a court appearance; the detective is the one who discovered his body, which was hanging from a bed sheet. He was 29.
Independent film actor Justin Pierce, best known for his role as skate-punk Casper in the controversial 1995 film Kids, was found dead after hanging himself in a swank Las Vegas hotel room. Authorities said today that Pierce's death was clearly a suicide. Pierce, 25, was found hanging in his room at the Bellagio resort Monday by hotel security officers and was pronounced dead at the scene, said Clark County Coroner Ron Flud. He added that two suicide notes were found at the scene, but would not reveal their contents. "Hanging is the cause of death and the manner of death is suicide," Flud stated. Toxicology tests were pending to determine whether Pierce had any drugs or alcohol in his system. Pierce, a Los Angeles resident, had apparently been in the desert city to do a video shoot for a fashion company. According to the New York Post, he had a new wife and baby at home. The young actor recently starred alongside Ice Cube in this year's comedy Next Friday. He also appeared on a few episodes of the Fox family show Malcolm in the Middle. Pierce got his break while he was noticed skateboarding on the streets of Manhattan, N.Y., which earned him the chance to portray a foul-mouthed street urchin in Kids. For a while, Pierce dated his Kids co-star, Oscar-nominated actress Chloë Sevigny Boys Don't Cry "He was a sweet and talented kid," producer Cary Woods, who worked with Pierce on Kids, told the Post. Eerily, one of Pierce's lines from Kids features his character speaking about mortality: "My outlook on the situation: It's like getting fame, you know what I'm saying? Say you was to die tomorrow, right, 50 years from now, all the virgins you ever fucked are gonna remember you. Right? They gonna tell their grandkids …" Pierce is the second young actor to hang himself in Las Vegas in the last two years. In March 1999, David Strickland, who played a rock critic alongside star Brooke Shields on the now-defunct sitcom Suddenly Susan, was found dead in his room at the Oasis Motel on the famous Strip. Shields, a friend of the actor, had hired a private investigator to track down Strickland when he missed a court appearance; the detective is the one who discovered his body, which was hanging from a bed sheet. He was 29.