Beloved The Wire Actor James Ransone Dies at 46

The married father of two—best known for his work on The Wire—has died after years of mental health struggles, according to reports.

James Ransone, who portrayed Ziggy Sobotka on The Wire and appeared in several other HBO projects, was 46.

According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, Ransone died in Los Angeles on Friday, and officials classified the death as a suicide.

Ransone was married and had two children. His wife, Jamie McPhee, shared a fundraiser benefiting the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) on her social media profile.

Records from the LA County Medical Examiner noted that his body was ready for release.

The Post has reached out to representatives for Ransone and The Wirecreator David Simon for comment.

James Ransone was reportedly found in his shed. Picture: Emma McIntyre/FilmMagic

Ransone played Frank Sobotka’s (Chris Bauer) son, Ziggy—a Baltimore dock worker—in the second season of The Wire.

He appeared in 12 episodes in 2003.

The critically acclaimed HBO series aired from 2002 to 2008 and starred Dominic West, Michael Kenneth Williams, John Doman, Idris Elba, Wood Harris, Lance Reddick, Wendell Pierce, Frankie Faison, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., and others.

Beyond The Wire, Ransone held roles in Generation Kill, Treme, and Bosch. His final TV appearance was in a Season 2 episode of Poker Face that aired in June.

In film, Ransone appeared in Prom Night(2008), Sinister (2012), Sinister 2 (2015), Tangerine (2015), Mr. Right (2015), It Chapter Two (2019), The Black Phone(2021), and Black Phone 2 (2025).

In 2021, Ransone publicly shared that he was a survivor of sexual abuse.

He said that a former tutor, Timothy Rualo, abused him multiple times at his childhood home in Phoenix, Maryland, over a six-month period in 1992.

James Ransone was best known for his role on The Wire. Picture: HBO

Ransone made the allegation public by posting a lengthy note on Instagram that he said he sent to the man he accused.

“We did very little math,” Ransone recalled, describing enduring memories of what happened and saying he felt too ashamed at 12 years old to tell anyone.

Ransone said the alleged abuse resulted in a “lifetime of shame and embarrassment,” and he told Rualo that what he experienced contributed to later struggles with alcoholism and heroin addiction. After getting sober in 2006, Ransone said he was “ready to confront” his past. He later reported the allegation to Baltimore County police in March 2020.