American actor Josh Grisetti, who starred on theater stages and appeared in the fifth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, died by suicide on Friday. He was 44.
His death was announced on Instagram on Sunday by his close friend and Something Rotten! co-star, actor Rob McClure.
“It is with a shattered heart that I share that the brilliant Josh Grisetti took his own life on Friday. I’m not ready to even attempt to understand,” McClure wrote. “My heart is with his wife and family as they try to deal with the reality of this. Some of my all-time favorite memories were by this man’s side... Just a cataclysmic loss.”
Grisetti’s agent, Rick Ferrari, said, “I am completely devastated. That’s all I can say.”
Grisetti began career in musical theater
Grisetti was born in Washington in December 1981. He studied drama at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and later trained in musical theater at the Boston Conservatory.
He began his career in regional productions before appearing in the musicals Diner, It Shoulda Been You, and Something Rotten!. His role in the latter became one of his best-known performances and earned him two Drama Desk Award nominations.
Alongside his theater work, Grisetti also appeared in film and television. In 2007, he appeared in the sitcom The Knights of Prosperity and later acted in the films The Immigrant and The Namesake. His most prominent television role was as Ralph Emerson in the fifth and final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which aired in 2023.