Tony Todd, who appeared in more than 240 film and TV credits over a 40-year career, passed away at 69 on November 6 at his home in Los Angeles.
His representatives confirmed his death, though the cause is not yet known.
Born on December 4, 1954, in Washington, D.C., Todd studied acting at the Eugene O’Neill National Actors Theatre Institute and Trinity Rep Conservatory. One of his first screen roles was as the heroin-addicted Sergeant Warren in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning Vietnam War classic ‘Platoon’.
Todd went on to guest-star in popular series of the 1980s and ’90s, including 21 ‘Jump Street’, ‘Night Court’, ‘MacGyver’, ‘Matlock’, ‘Jake and the Fatman’, ‘Law & Order’, ‘The X-Files’, ‘NYPD Blue’, ‘Beverly Hills’, ‘90210’, ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’, ‘Murder’, ‘She Wrote’, and ‘Star Trek’ series ‘The Next Generation’, ‘Deep Space Nine’, and ‘Voyager’. He also had recurring roles as TV news reporter Matt Rhodes on ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ and ‘Gus Rogan on The Young and the Restless’ in 2013.
One of his most iconic roles was ‘Candyman’ (1992), where he played Daniel Robitaille, the vengeful ghost of a talented 1800s painter who fell in love with a white woman. A lynch mob murdered him, and his ashes were scattered on land that later became a public housing project haunted by unexplained murders.
Todd was also a skilled voice actor, best known for voicing Venom in ‘Spider-Man 2’. He lent his voice to roles in ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Call of Duty’ games, TV series like ‘Transformers Prime’ and ‘Be Cool’, ‘Scooby-Doo’, and films including ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’.
Todd had several upcoming projects according to IMDb. One of them is ‘Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’, an upcoming game where he plays a villain. The game will release next month on Xbox and PC, with a PS5 release planned for spring 2025.
There are also rumors and leaks that Insomniac Games is developing a Venom spin-off game, though no official confirmation has been given.
