Acclaimed character actor Ray Stevenson has passed away at young age of 58, leaving behind an impressive body of works, “Punisher: War Zone,” “Thor,” “RRR” and major TV shows like “Vikings” and a Star Wars spinoff. A rep for Stevenson confirmed that he died on Sunday. No other details have been shared at this time.
Stevenson was born in 1964 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. After attending the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and years of working in British television, he made his film debut in Paul Greengrass’ 1998 film, “Theory of Flight.” In 2004, he appeared in Antoine Fuqua’s “King Arthur” as a knight of the Round Table. Then the Irish actor rose to fame in the United States with his role as soldier Titus Pullo in the HBO series, “Rome,” from 2005 to 2007. The year after “Rome” went off the air, Stevenson starred in “Punisher: War Zone.”
Stevenson went on to star in studio films like “The Other Guys” alongside Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in 2010, Paul W.S. Anderson’s 2011 adaptation of “The Three Musketeers,” “Divergent” and “The Book of Eli.” Then he returned to the Marvel universe to star as Voltage in “Thor.” More recently, Stevenson portrayed Scott Buxton, the villain in “RRR.” The action flick premiered on the streaming platform in 2022. Stevenson also cast in Rosario Dawson in Disney+’s upcoming Star Wars show “Ahsoka,” which is a spinoff from the hit show “The Mandalorian.”
Many of these films and shows utilized this Irish actor’s intimidating physical presence, but he’s not the young or hot leading man, but he played the type of the man that people could identify with.
Stevenson had three children: Sebastiano, Leonardo and Lodovico with Italian anthropologist Elisabetta Caraccia.