'NYPD Blue' star Austin Majors dead at 27
Actor Austin Majors arrives at the 30th Annual Young Artist Awards at the Globe Theatre on March 29, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Angela Weiss/WireImage)
LOS ANGELES - Austin Majors, who starred in the hit "NYPD Blue" series, has died, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed Monday. He was 27.
The former child actor - who was born Austin Robert Setmajer - was found dead at a homeless housing facility in Los Angeles Saturday, TMZ reports. Majors' cause of death has not yet been released, but sources told the outlet they suspect Majors died from a fentanyl overdose.
According to the coroner, Majors' cause of death is "deferred" and "pending additional investigation."
Majors' family has since released a statement about his death, remembering him as a "loving, artistic, brilliant, and kind human being."
Dennis Franz (left) and Austin Majors (right) on NYPD BLUE - "Safe Home" in 1999. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
"Austin took great joy and pride in his acting career. He was an active Eagle Scout and graduated Salutatorian in High School. He went on to graduate from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with a passion of directing and music producing," the statement read.
They called him the "kind of son, brother, grandson, and nephew that made us proud."
Mark Paul Gosselaar, Bill Clark, Dennis Franz, Austin Majors (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/WireImage)
"We will miss him deeply forever."
Majors shot to fame on the true-crime show in which he starred as Theo Sipowicz from 1999 to 2004. For that role, he won the 2002 Young Artists Award for Best Performance in a Television Series.
Majors also had roles in other shows and movies including "ER" and "An Accidental Christmas."
Austin Majors during Opening Night of "Cavalia" in Glendale, California (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage for BWR Public Relations)
According to IMDb, his last credited performance was in 2021 in "Girls' Night In."
Majors described himself as "producer of music" who used the alias "Pope!" His last Instagram post on Dec. 28 was a picture of the fictional "Home Alone" burglar Harry Lime along with a caption teasing a "new seasonal jam."
In 2020, he had posted a picture of his SAG-AFTRA card along with the caption, "I've been a member of SAG for 2 decades… what a beautiful ride it has been. I never dreamed I'd still be alive this many years later.. let alone what this would effect. My first union job was a commercial for @bountypapertowels, the quicker picker upper! hah)
"I'm proud/shocked by this seeming time-warp * somehow it still feels like the trip is just beginning… keep it 100 fam."