How Did “NYPD Blue” Actor Austin Majors Die at Young Age of 27?

Austin Majors, a former child actor best known for his role in “NYPD Blue,” died on Saturday in Los Angeles. The LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed that Major had died. He was 27.

He was living at a place for homeless people in downtown Los Angeles. He was in the Los Angeles Daily News last week when L.A. Mayor Karen Bass visited the place. The official cause of his death remains unknown.

His sister Kali remembered him, writing on Facebook –

“My big brother, Austin, is gone. He died last night. It’s so surreal to me still. He was only 27 with so much life left to live.”

Major’s family also issued a statement to TMZ, saying –

“[Austin] was a loving, artistic, brilliant, and kind human being. Austin took great joy and pride in his acting career. He was an active Eagle Scout and graduated Salutatorian in High School. He went on to graduate from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with a passion of directing and music producing.”

“Austin’s younger sister, Kali, says her fondest memories with Austin were growing up on set with him, volunteering at events with ‘Kids With a Cause,’ and backpacking together. Austin was the kind of son, brother, grandson, and nephew that made us proud and we will miss him deeply forever.”

Major was born in 1995, but his first big screen role didn’t come until 1999, when he played Theo Sipowicz, the son of Detective Andy Sipowicz, on “NYPD Blue” (Dennis Franz). After “NYPD Blue,” Majors was in a number of other TV shows, such as “How I Met Your Mother,” “Desperate Housewives,” “American Dad!,” “Threshold,” “NCIS,” and “According to Jim.”

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The actor was also in movies like “An Accidental Christmas”, “Christmas in Tinseltown”, “Treasure Planet”, “The Price of Air”, and “The Legend of John Henry”.

After acting as a child, Majors, who was also known as Austin Majors-Setmajer, went to the University of Southern California to study film and TV production with a minor in the music industry. His LinkedIn says that he made music under the name “Pope” and that he wanted to be a film director or cinematographer.