RJ Mitte, the actor who played Walter White Jr. On Breaking Bad, has died at 34. His death was confirmed by his representatives on Monday, October 12, in Brownsville, Texas. The cause, according to sources cited by Koimoi, was suicide. An autopsy is pending. 

Mitte’s journey to Hollywood began not with a script or a casting call, but a water park trip. When his younger sister Laci was cast as a baby Lucille Ball for a Universal Studios skit, the family flew to Los Angeles. Stuck in a motel for nearly a year while the act extended, Mitte — then just a teenager, decided to make something of the time. He took acting classes, worked as an extra, and eventually landed his first audition: for a new AMC series called Breaking Bad. 

The role took five months to secure. Four auditions in LA, one final test in New Mexico. Once he got it, the rest, as they say, was history. But for Mitte, it wasn’t just fame. It was survival. His mother had been partially paralyzed after a car accident. His grandparents were ill. At 13, he needed to earn. Breaking Bad gave him that. And more. 

He became a vocal advocate for disability rights, served as a SAG spokesperson, and founded the Mitte Foundation. In 2013, he received the SAG-AFTRA Harold Russell Award for his work in representation. His performances in Who’s Driving Doug, Time Share, The Oak Room, and Triumph kept him active in indie and genre films long after Breaking Bad ended. 

Fans are remembering him not just for the role that defined him, but for how he used it, to speak, to stand, to be seen. The internet is flooded with tributes, many quoting his line from the show: “I’m not disabled. I’m different.” 

His legacy isn’t just in the scenes he filmed. It’s in the door he opened. For others like him. 

The next chapter? Still unwritten.