Angus Cloud, the actor who broke through playing a drug dealer with a heart of gold on HBO’s smash-hit teen drama Euphoria, has died, according to his family. He was 25.
According to TMZ, the first outlet to report Cloud’s death on Monday, the actor died at his family’s home in Oakland, California.
The tabloid reported later that Cloud’s mother had placed a 911 call around 11:30 a.m. local time, reporting a “possible overdose.” Cloud reportedly did not have a pulse, and was eventually pronounced dead at the scene.
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An official cause of death was not immediately confirmed, and a police investigation into the matter remains ongoing.
“It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today,” Cloud’s family said in a Monday statement. “As an artist, a friend, a brother and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways.”
“Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss,” the statement continued. “The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend.”
The family went on to say that Cloud had been “open about his battle with mental health,” and that they hoped his death could serve as “a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence.”
“We hope the world remembers him for his humor, laughter and love for everyone,” they said. “We ask for privacy at this time as we are still processing this devastating loss.”
Some of the Euphoria cast paid tribute to the late actor on Monday, with Javon Walton—who plays Cloud’s character’s little brother—sharing a photo of the two of them on his Instagram Story. “Forever family,” he captioned it. Storm Reid, who plays Gia, posted a clip of the show to her Story, writing, “the tears just won’t stop.”
In a Twitter statement, HBO said it was “incredibly saddened” by news of Cloud’s death, and that he had been “immensely talented and a beloved part of the HBO and Euphoria family.”
Cloud won the role that would launch him onto a national stage in the summer of 2018, when he was scouted by a casting agent off the streets of Manhattan, he later told The Wall Street Journal. He had been waiting tables at a chicken-and-waffles restaurant in Brooklyn, and immediately assumed the agent was trying to scam him. Luckily, a friend convinced him to go to the audition.
“Before this, I didn’t have any desire to act,” he told The New York Times last year. “I guess I was just at the right place at the right time.”
When the first season of Euphoria hit screens in June 2019, Cloud immediately stood out, even amongst a stacked ensemble cast populated by other emerging talents and established stars. His committed performance as Fezco, a sensitive teenage drug dealer, won him both the hearts of fans and praise from critics.
“Cloud makes clear the discomfort Fez carries,” a writer for New York magazine noted at the end of the show’s second season. “He doesn’t quite exude menace, but he radiates a kind of preparedness: a coiled spring full of energy yearning for release.”
Cloud seemed humbly surprised by his own success. “The difference between me and everyone else who’s famous it’s that they were trying to go get famous, for the most part,” he explained to i-D earlier this year. “They were working hard, and they were like, ‘I’m going to make it to the top.’ For me, it was just like too good of an opportunity to say no to. I had no idea it would go this far.”
Outside of Euphoria, Cloud became a regular fixture at fashion events. Often clad in his signature “Oakland chic” style, he attended 2020’s Paris Fashion Week and modeled in ads for Gap and Fila. He generated headlines at New York Fashion Week 2022 when, sitting in the front row of a Coach show, he pulled out and started snacking on a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
As an actor, he began expanding his filmography with movies like North Hollywood (2021) and The Line (2023), a thriller starring Alex Wolff and John Malkovich. He is also slated to posthumously appear in projects like the Pedro Pascal vehicle Freaky Tales, the horror flick Your Lucky Day, and an untitled Universal monster movie.
Cloud also appeared in music videos for artists like Noah Cyrus, Juice WRLD, and Becky G and Karol G.
Earlier this year, Cloud was briefly embroiled in controversy after his former talent manager publicly cut ties with him, attributing the separation to the actor’s “verbal abuse, emotional distress & severe drug addiction.”
In an 18-part Twitter thread, manager Diomi Cordero accused Cloud of surrounding himself with friends who threatened his sobriety, “ultimately contributing to his relapse” in 2021. Cordero claimed he rescued his client from an overdose in January 2022.
He alleged that Cloud relapsed again the next month and “became extremely abusive” to him, to the point of “degrading me publicly in front of his friends & even my colleagues.” Cordero said he severed their professional relationship soon after.
Cordero was widely criticized for exposing and exploiting Cloud, who did not publicly comment on the allegations at the time.
Though he moved to Los Angeles after jump-starting his acting career, he seemed to dream of returning permanently to his native home again some day. “Oakland's where my heart’s at,” he told i-D. “I love the people, the community. It’s beautiful.”
Euphoria has not yet started production on its third season.
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
