Jonathan Brandis Biography

Jonathan Gregory Brandis (April 13, 1976 - November 12, 2003) was an American actor. Beginning his career as a child model, Brandis moved on to acting in commercials and subsequently won television and film roles. Brandis made his acting debut in 1982 as Kevin Buchanan on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. In 1990, he portrayed the main protagonist Bill Denbrough in Stephen King's supernatural horror miniseries It. In 1990, he starred as Bastian Bux in The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter. In 1993, at the age of 17, he was cast in the role of Lucas Wolenczak, a teen prodigy on the NBC series seaQuest DSV. The character was popular among teenage female viewers, and Brandis regularly appeared in teen magazines.

On November 12, 2003, Brandis died at the age of 27 after hanging himself.

Early life

Brandis was born in Danbury, Connecticut. He was the only child of Mary, a teacher and personal manager, and Gregory Brandis, a food distributor and firefighter. At the age of two, he began his career as a child model for Buster Brown shoes. At the age of four, Brandis began acting in television commercials. He attended Valley Professional School, graduating in 1993.

Career

At the age of six, Brandis won the role of Kevin Buchanan on the soap opera One Life to Live. He moved to Los Angeles with his family at age nine, and made guest appearances on shows such as L.A. Law, Who's the Boss?, Murder, She Wrote, The Wonder Years, Full House and Kate & Allie.

At the age of fourteen, Brandis was cast his first starring role as Bastian Bux in The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter. That same year, Brandis played the young "Stuttering Bill" Denbrough, the main protagonist in the 1990 miniseries Stephen King's It, alongside Tim Curry, based on the epic horror novel of the same name. Brandis' performance in the film was lauded by critics and audiences. Brandis then appeared in Sidekicks, costarring with Chuck Norris, and in Ladybugs, with actor/comedian Rodney Dangerfield.

Around the age of 17, Brandis landed one of his best-known roles, as scientific prodigy Lucas Wolenczak in Steven Spielberg's futuristic science fiction series seaQuest DSV. The role propelled him into teen idol status. At the height of his popularity, Brandis received approximately 4,000 fan letters a week and had to be escorted onto the set of seaQuest DSV by three studio security guards because of the many female fans present. During his stint on seaQuest DSV, he co-wrote and produced an episode of the series titled "The Siamese Dream". He also voiced Mozenrath, an evil young sorcerer and necromancer, in Disney's animated series Aladdin.

After seaQuest DSV was canceled in 1996, Brandis appeared in the television film Her Last Chance, starring Kellie Martin. His next role was in the television film Born Free: A New Adventure. Shot in South Africa, the film also starred Chris Noth as Brandis's character's father. He continued his career in supporting roles in Outside Providence (1999), and Ride with the Devil (1999). In 2000, he costarred in Bad Girls from Valley High, which, because of distribution problems, was not released until 2005. In 2002, Brandis had a small role in Hart's War (2002). The following year, he was cast in 111 Gramercy Park, a pilot for ABC that was not picked up by the network. He made his final onscreen appearance in action drama Puerto Vallarta Squeeze, starring Harvey Keitel and Scott Glenn. That film was also released posthumously.

In addition to acting, Brandis directed several independent films and authored screenplays. He also produced and directed the short film The Slainesville Boys shortly before his death.

Personal life

From 1995 to 1998, Brandis dated actress and singer Tatyana Ali. The then couple were featured in an article in People magazine in July 1995.

Death

At 11:40 pm on November 11, 2003, Brandis hanged himself in the hallway of his Los Angeles apartment building. His body was discovered and paramedics were called to transport the actor to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Brandis died there at 2:44 am on November 12 from injuries he sustained from the hanging.

Brandis did not leave a suicide note. After his death, friends reported that he was depressed about his waning career, which had continued to decline in the final years of his life. He was also reportedly disappointed when his appearance in the 2002 war drama Hart's War, a role he had hoped would revive his career, was significantly reduced in the film's final cut. Brandis had begun drinking heavily and had said that he intended to kill himself.

Paul Petersen, a former child actor and president of A Minor Consideration, an organization that deals with issues affecting child actors, stated: "Speculations as to the underlying cause of this tragedy are exactly that: speculations. It serves no purpose to leap to conclusions for none of us will really know what led Jonathan to his decision to take his life."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Fatal Attraction	Party guest
1988	The Wrong Guys	Kid Tim
1988	Oliver & Company	Additional voice
1989	Pet Sematary	Voice-over at beginning of film
1989	Stepfather II	Todd Grayland
1990	Ghost Dad	Additional voices
1990	'	Bastian Bux
1992	Ladybugs	Matthew/Martha
1992	Sidekicks	Barry Gabrewski
1994	Dumb and Dumber	Nick (Commercial character)	Uncredited
1998	Aladdin's Arabian Adventures: Magic Makers	Mozenrath (voice)	Direct-to-video release
1999	Outside Providence	Mousy
1999	Ride with the Devil	Cave Wyatt
2002	Hart's War	Pvt. Lewis P. Wakely	Scenes deleted
2002	The Year That Trembled	Casey Pedersen
2003	Between the Sheets	Robert Avocado
2004	Puerto Vallarta Squeeze	Neil Weatherford	Released posthumously
2004	The Slainesville Boys		Director, producer Released posthumously
2005	Bad Girls from Valley High	Drew	Filmed in 2000; Released posthumously

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	One Life to Live	Young Kevin Riley Buchanan	Unknown episodes
1984	Kate & Allie	Chip's Friend	Episode: "Odd Boy Out"
1986	Mystery Magical Special	Himself	Special
1986	Sledge Hammer!	Young Sledge	Episode: "They Shoot Hammers, Don't They?"
1987	Good Morning, Miss Bliss	Michael Thompson	Pilot
1987	Buck James		Episode: "Sin of the Father"
1987	L.A. Law	Kevin Talbot	2 episodes
1987	Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story	Lance Reventlow (Age 11)	TV movie
1988	Mars: Base One		Movie
1988	Webster	Bobby	Episode: "Take My Cousin, Please"
1989	Full House	Michael Monford	Episode: "A Little Romance"
1989	Who's the Boss?	Paul	Episode: "Your Grandmother's a Bimbo"
1990	It	Bill Denbrough (Age 12)	Miniseries
1990	Murder, She Wrote	Kevin Bryce	Episode: "If the Shoe Fits"
1990	Alien Nation	Andron	Episode: "The Touch"
1990	The Munsters Today	Matt Glover	Episode: "The Silver Bullet"
1990	The Flash	Terry Cohan	Episode: "Child's Play"
1990	The Earth Day Special	Himself
1991	Our Shining Moment	Michael 'Scooter' McGuire
1991	Gabriel's Fire	Matthew Fixx	Episode: "Truth and Consequences"
1991	The Wonder Years	Steve	Episode: "The Yearbook"
1991	Blossom	Stevie	Episode: "To Tell the Truth"
1991	Pros and Cons	Danny	Episode: "Once a Kid"
1992	Do Not Bring That Python in the House	Gabriel Miller	Movie
1992	Crossroads	Michael Stahl	Episode: "Freedom of the Road"
1993–96	seaQuest DSV	Lucas Wolenczak	57 episodes
1993	Saved By The Bell: The College Years	Himself	Episode: "A Thanksgiving Story"
1994	Good King Wenceslas	Prince Wenceslas	Television movie
1994–95	Aladdin	Mozenrath (voice)	8 episodes
1996	Her Last Chance	Preston Altherton	Movie
1996	Born Free: A New Adventure	Randolph "Rand" Thompson	Movie
1996	Fall into Darkness	Chad	Movie
1997	Two Came Back	Jason	Movie
2003	111 Gramercy Park	Will Karnegian	Unsold pilot

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Title of work	Result
1990	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Guest Starring in a Television Series	The Flash
1991	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture	The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter
1992	Saturn Awards	Best Performance by a Younger Actor	'
1993	Young Artist Awards	Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture	Lady Bugs (shared with cast)
1993	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture	Lady Bugs
1994	Young Artist Awards	Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Television Series	seaQuest DSV
1995	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance by a Youth Actor in a TV Mini-Series or Special	Good King Wenceslas

See also