Tony Award-nominated Canadian actor Nick Cordero, whose imposing physique coupled with effortless charm brought him a series of tough-guy roles on Broadway, has died in Los Angeles after suffering severe medical complications after contracting the coronavirus. He was 41.
His death was announced on Instagram by his wife, Amanda Kloots, on Sunday. The couple, who moved to Los Angeles from New York nearly a year ago, have a one-year-old son, Elvis.
“God has another angel in heaven now,” Kloots posted on Instagram.
“Nick was such a bright light. He was everyone’s friend, loved to listen, help and especially talk. He was an incredible actor and musician. He loved his family and loved being a father and husband.”
Cordero grew up in Hamilton’s west end and attended Toronto’s Ryerson University for acting.
He moved to New York in 2007 to pursue his acting career but nearly gave it up after a long stretch without work to seek a more stable job as a real estate agent.
Cordero’s big break came in 2014 when he played Cheech, a gangster with a fondness for theater and a talent for tap, in a musical adaptation of Bullets Over Broadway. The role won him a Tony nomination.
“Somehow, this dopey, mass-murdering thug and the actor playing him stand out as being far more endearingly earnest than anybody else,” New York Times critic Ben Brantley wrote in his review.
Cordero also went on to play the abusive husband of the title character in Waitress and a mobster in A Bronx Tale.
In a 2014 New York Times interview, Cordero reflected on the challenge of finding his voice as a pitiless mafia enforcer.
“The producer kept telling me, ‘Get tough. Get mean. Get angry,’” Cordero told The New York Times. “But I’m a nice guy. I’m Canadian.”
Cordero died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai hospital after more than 90 days in the hospital, according to Kloots.
Cordero entered the emergency room on March 30 and had a succession of health setbacks, including mini-strokes, blood clots, sepsis infection, a tracheotomy and a temporary pacemaker implanted.
He had been on a ventilator and unconscious and had his right leg amputated. A double lung transplant was being explored.
With files from The Associated Press
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