Actor Angus Cloud, from ‘Euphoria’, died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs | People

2023-09-21 22:32:41

Angus Cloud, on the right, poses with Zendaya, at a party organized by ‘Vanity Fair’ magazine in 2022. Matt Winkelmeyer (Getty Images)

Angus Cloud, one of the protagonists of the hit series Euphoria, died from an accidental overdose. It is the conclusion of the autopsy performed by the Alameda County Coroner’s Office. Authorities found traces of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamines and benzodiazepine in the 25-year-old actor’s blood. Cloud, who played a drug dealer in two seasons of the HBO drama, was found dead on July 31 in his Oakland home. His family then assured that the interpreter was suffering a difficult process of loss due to the death of his father due to cancer.

Days after Cloud’s death, his mother, Lisa, took to social media to address rumors that the actor had committed suicide. “Some publications on the Internet say that his death was intentional. I want you to know that it was not like that,” her mother wrote on Facebook.

Since then, Lisa advanced the possibility that the death was caused by a lethal cocktail of drugs. “We may know that she was the victim of an accidental and tragic overdose, but it is abundantly clear that she had no intention of leaving this world,” she added in the message. Two months later, the toxicological analysis confirms her mother’s suspicions.

Fentanyl, a powerful opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, has caused an epidemic in the United States. Although there is no official data yet, the country’s health authorities believe that two thirds of the more than 107,000 overdoses recorded in 2022 were caused by this substance. Drugs have flooded the streets of the nation’s main cities and combating them has meant a headache for all levels of Government.

Cloud’s death adds to a long list of celebrities who have died from the powerful drug, which is legal and is used to treat extreme pain in some cancer patients. Among these are the legendary singer Prince, Michael Williams, the actor from The Wire, another HBO hit, and rappers Mac Miller and Coolio, among others.

With a fleeting career, Cloud owed his fame to a chance encounter. A casting agent discovered him by accident walking through the streets of Manhattan. The young man was a theater student who had a credit in 2019 in a small independent film and appeared briefly in music videos by Noah Cyrus and Mamiii, by Karol G and Becky G.

Euphoria launched him to stardom. His portrayal of Fez, a sensitive trafficker, won over the broadcast’s young audiences. This caused the showrunner of the series, Sam Levinson, to change his plans for the character, who was going to die in the first season. The writer, however, stressed the importance of the character for the second season and led him to be one of the pillars of the program, especially in the final episode, broadcast in December 2022. The third season will arrive sometime in 2025.

“There was no one like Angus. He was special, talented and too young to leave us so soon,” Levinson said when he learned of Cloud’s death. The actor leaves behind a couple of posthumous films. One of them is a thriller called Radio Silence, which will be released by Universal in April 2024. Another film, Your Lucky Day, is still in post-production.