16 '90s Stars We Tragically Lost Too Soon

The following article contains mentions of mental health issues, addiction, and suicide.

Fame can be a turbulent road, and not everyone is fortunate enough to make it through the entertainment industry unscathed. There have been a number of '90s sitcom stars who disappeared from Hollywood in favor of a more private life. Movie stars who ruled the decade, too, have taken a step back from the spotlight over the years. However, many other celebrities of the '90s disappeared for more devastating reasons, and they won't be coming back.

We'll always remember the film and television icons we watched back in the day, or even today for a dose of nostalgia, whether they were a famed "Saturday Night Live" cast member like Chris Farley, a teen sitcom actor like "Steve Harvey Show" star Merlin Santana, or a young lead in a Disney movie like Michelle Trachtenberg. These are the '90s stars of the screen we tragically lost too soon.

Brandon Lee and his father Bruce Lee had a lot in common. They were both actors, had both incorporated their martial arts skills into their on-screen work, and sadly, had both died extremely young. Lee might have become as notorious as his father, but we'll sadly never know because in March 1993 — decades before the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of "Rust" — he was shot and killed with a prop gun.

The actor had been filming "The Crow" when his co-star Michael Massee shot at him, accidentally firing a bullet fragment despite the blanks in the revolver. Lee tragically died later in surgery at age 28. No charges were brought, though his mother did successfully sue the filmmakers. In speaking with The Guardian in April 2024, Lee's younger sister Shannon described him as "a big, boisterous ball of energy." She added, "He was my tormentor. But when it mattered, he was also my protector. If someone was being mean to me, he would step in."

There's no question that River Phoenix was on his way to becoming one of the greats when he sadly joined the list of actors we lost too young to a drug overdose. He delivered stunning performances in movies like "Stand by Me," and even generated Oscar buzz for his role in "Running on Empty," as he became one of Hollywood's most in-demand actors. Tragically, on Halloween night 1993, Phoenix collapsed outside The Viper Room, a popular West Hollywood nightclub, and was pronounced dead shortly afterward. His death was ruled an overdose of the "lethal levels of cocaine and morphine" found in his system, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Keanu Reeves, Phoenix's close friend and co-star in "My Own Private Idaho," spoke fondly of the actor during an interview with Rolling Stone in August 2000. "We brought good out in each other," he recalled. "He was a real original thinker. He was not the status quo. In anything."

Comedy fans everywhere were devastated when the news of Chris Farley's accidental death spread in December 1997. The former "Saturday Night Live" cast member had struggled with addictions to food and alcohol, but it was a combination of cocaine and morphine that ultimately led to the 33-year-old's death. Tragically, Farley alluded to his eventual overdose during an interview with Rolling Stone the summer before he died. In speaking about his drug use, the comedian said, "[A]ll that s*** does is kill someone. It is a demon that must be snuffed out. It is the end."

Farley's friend Bob Odenkirk wrote about witnessing the actor's downfall in "Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama," his 2022 memoir (via People). The worst part, he wrote, was "the inevitability of the whole damn thing." Sadly, as Odenkirk wrote, Farley's demise had "played out just as everyone said it would."

When thinking back to some of television's most iconic sitcoms, "The Cosby Show" and "Family Matters" definitely come to mind. The stunning and hilarious Michelle Thomas portrayed Theo's girlfriend Justine on the former and Steve Urkel's girlfriend Myra Monkhouse on the latter from Season 4 until the show went off the air in 1998. Tragically, less than six months after "Family Matters" ended, Thomas succumbed to stomach cancer at just 30 years old.

Following a sweet 2017 reunion of the "Family Matters" cast during which a handful of actors were notably absent, Jaleel White shared an Instagram post in tribute to Thomas. "[N]o reunion would be complete without me acknowledging our beloved Michelle Thomas," he wrote. "This little ray of sunshine gave me some of the best physical comedy moments I'll ever play on screen. Michelle's smile never failed to brighten your day and I will forever miss my bubbly Myra Monkhouse."

David Strickland had only been acting for a couple of years when he secured the part of Todd on "Suddenly Susan." The actor was a series regular for three seasons, until March 1998, when the actor tragically ended his life in a Las Vegas motel room when he was just 29. Strickland had reportedly dealt with bipolar disorder and had stopped taking his medication. The showrunners subsequently killed his character off, and something of a media circus formed around the circumstances of his death.

While there may be a number stars you might not know have died, unless you were too young to remember, Strickland was definitely not one of them. Despite the fact that he wasn't a very high-profile actor while alive, his devastating suicide brought him a fair amount of notoriety. Soon afterward, the cast of "Suddenly Susan" was all over the news to discuss their co-star's untimely demise. Brooke Shields was among them and issued a statement at the time (via the Los Angeles Times), which read, "David was my family, and if the press have even a modicum of integrity, I beg them to spare us their insensitive prying."

Whether he was on "The Cosby Show," "Getting By," "Moesha," or his long-running role as Romeo on "The Steve Harvey Show," Merlin Santana was all over our screens in the '90s. The 26-year-old actor seemed to be on his way to bigger and better things and had just appeared in Eddie Murphy's movie "Showtime" when he was tragically murdered in November 2002.

Santana and his friend met 15-year-old Monique King a few days prior to his death, and they made plans to hang out on November 9 at his music studio. She stayed for just a few minutes, then was picked up by two men, Brandon Bynes and Damien Gates. King lied to her two accomplices, saying the actor made unwelcome advances toward her. So that night, when Santana and his friend went to leave, Bynes and Gates shot at their car, hitting him in the back of the head. "As time goes by, it hurts more and more," Cruzcina Santana, the actor's mother, told the judge during King's sentencing (via Backstage). "To go on with my life, I have to learn to live without my son."

Several tragic details befell the cast of "Roseanne" back in the day, but the loss of Glenn Quinn may have been among the most devastating. The Irish actor secured his status as a '90s star and heartthrob, acting opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in 1991's "Shout" and landing a role on "Angel" back in 1999. But Quinn may have been best known for playing Mark on "Roseanne."

In December 2002, when the actor was just 32, he was tragically found dead from a drug overdose at a friend's home in Los Angeles. As Quinn's sister Sonya told The Irish Independent in December 2016, "He came home to Ireland in 1997, and from what I know, that trip did not go well. ... It was at this time that Glenn's struggles took over." Despite Quinn's family's attempts to help him deal with his drug use, it ultimately "consumed him," as Sonya put it.

Many child stars have died tragically young. Among them is Jonathan Brandis, who got his start in the '80s and was a full-fledged teen heartthrob by the '90s with roles in the "It" miniseries, "SeaQuest 2032" and "The NeverEnding Story II." The complications of childhood stardom can lead to very high highs, and tragically, incredibly low lows. But this doesn't always reveal the full picture of why some child stars turn out the way they do.

As Brandis experienced something of a career lull, he reportedly began drinking heavily and spoke about ending his life. Sadly, his friends found him in November 2003 at his Los Angeles home, and he died by suicide the following day at 27 years old. "Jonathan was very smart and he was very polite and always easygoing," his dad Greg Brandis told People years later, in March 2021. "In a sad way, he was probably bipolar. [His death] wasn't due to the entertainment industry. I look back now, and in his 20s, he showed signs of manic depression."

How many "Moesha" actors have died is quite jarring, though many of their deaths — like Lamont Bentley's — have sadly flown under the radar. But the actor's place on television in the '90s was longstanding. He portrayed Hakeem Campbell on the sitcom for all six seasons, as well as on shows "Clueless" and "The Parkers." Sadly, one night in January 2005, Bentley was driving on the 118 Freeway near Los Angeles when he took an exit ramp at high speed and seemed to lose control of his car.

The actor's Mercedes-Benz rolled down an embankment, and he was thrown from the car into traffic. Bentley was just 31 years old when he was pronounced dead — and after a thorough investigation, the "Moesha" star was deemed to have no alcohol or drugs in his system. At the time, his manager Susan Ferris told the Los Angeles Times that he'd been excited about future career prospects at the time of his death. "He was a bright candle that just got snuffed out," she said. "He was in a great place emotionally, physically. Everything was going right for him."

Brad Renfro's meteoric success and subsequent fall from grace are nothing short of tragic. The actor was just 10 years old when he was cast in his debut role in 1994's "The Client," alongside Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon. Renfro's talent was clear and, over the next decade, he had back-to-back roles, seemingly never resting until his tragic death.

There was sadly a dark side to the child star's life, and his trouble with the law began when he was 16. Drug possession, the attempted theft of a yacht, and a DUI tainted Renfro's image before he was found unresponsive from a drug overdose in January 2008, at the age of 25. "I had the pleasure of working with Brad," the young actor's former co-star Sarandon told People when his death was announced. "It was obvious to everyone that he was the sweetest, most incredibly gifted young actor to come along for some time. My heart goes out to the family for their tragic loss."

Although Natasha Richardson had been on the scene for some time, her real success came in the '90s. You might remember the English actor best for her roles in 1990's "The Handmaid's Tale," or as Elizabeth in the 1998 version of "The Parent Trap." Richardson was in a dozen more projects and went on to win a Tony for her performance in "Cabaret" before she ultimately died at age 45.

The "Asylum" actor had been taking skiing lessons in Quebec when she tumbled over and hit her head on the snow-packed ground. She initially declined medical treatment, and her condition worsened. Her husband Liam Neeson had been filming a movie in Toronto at the time, but he quickly went to see her when he heard the news. Tragically, he found Richardson brain dead and hooked up to life support. "I went in to her and told her I loved her. Said, 'Sweetie, you're not coming back from this. You've banged your head,'" Neeson said of his final moments with his late wife during a CBS News segment in February 2014.

There have been many tragic details in the lives of the cast of "Clueless," but Brittany Murphy's death remains one of the most troubling. After getting her big break in the coming-of-age film, she went on to star in "Girl, Interrupted," "8 Mile," and "Uptown Girls." Murphy had proved she was on her way to becoming one of Hollywood's best and brightest when she died at just 32 years old — leading to several conspiracy theories.

The '90s star collapsed in her bathroom one morning in December 2009, after experiencing flu-like symptoms for some time. Murphy's cause of death was ruled as pneumonia, though her anemia and use of prescription drugs may have contributed. In a bizarre turn of events, her husband Simon Monjack died less than six months later from the same afflictions: pneumonia and anemia. Murphy's "Clueless" co-star Elisa Donovan told People in June 2021, "I always think of her like a hummingbird. She just was an incredibly talented girl with a great spirit."

Lee Thompson Young seemed to have it all after he rose to fame as a teen star in Disney Channel's "The Famous Jett Jackson." The show served as his debut and ran from 1998 until 2001, but the young actor kept busy for years afterward. Young had been portraying Barry Frost on TNT's show "Rizzoli & Isles" for four seasons when, one day in August 2013, he didn't show up for work. Friends requested a welfare check on him, but it was sadly too late.

Young dealt with bipolar disorder and depression, which he had been treating with medication at the time of his suicide. "Lee was more than just a brilliant young actor, he was a wonderful and gentle soul who will be truly missed," the 29-year-old actor's longtime manager Jonathan Baruch said in a statement released by Deadline at the time.

Unfortunately, Lisa Robin Kelly wasn't only known for portraying Laurie Forman on "That '70s Show" off and on until her character was recast for Season 6. While she had several other smaller roles over the years, the actor became known for her public struggles, as she dealt with addiction, had several run-ins with the law, and her mugshots became famous.

In August 2013, Kelly's agent Craig Wyckoff revealed in a statement (via NBC News) that the '90s star had died at age 43. "Lisa had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment facility early this week where she was battling the addiction problems that have plagued her these past few years," he said. "I spoke to her on Monday and she was hopeful and confident, looking forward to putting this part of her life behind her. Last night she lost the battle."

Perhaps in competition with "Family Matters" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Saved by the Bell" was up there with one of the most popular after-school sitcoms in the late '80s and early '90s. Screech, played by Dustin Diamond, was a favorite member of the gang. Afterward, the actor went on to have a successful career with dozens of roles, and he even broke into directing and producing. But he was also gravely unlucky. Just weeks after testing positive for stage 4 small cell carcinoma, a form of lung cancer, Diamond died in February 2021. The 44-year-old actor was not a smoker, but the illness progressed quickly.

Diamond's "Saved by the Bell" co-star Mark-Paul Gosselaar referred to the late actor as a "true comedic genius" in speaking with Entertainment Weekly at the time. "Looking back at our time working together, I will miss those raw, brilliant sparks that only he was able to produce. A pie in your face, my comrade," he said.

Michelle Trachtenberg was beloved as a child star, teen idol, and accomplished actor. From the time she was introduced to audiences in 1996 with "Harriet the Spy," fans knew she would go far. As time went on, she racked up film and television credits, but Trachtenberg's life would soon take a tragic turn.

Some of her concerned fans wondered about her health beforehand, due to changes in her appearance following a liver transplant. However, the world was still shocked when news of Trachtenberg's death hit the internet in February 2025. Just a year prior, the "Inspector Gadget" star shared a selfie on Instagram, writing, "I've received several comments recently about my appearance. I have never had plastic surgery I am happy and healthy." Trachtenberg's family declined an autopsy of the actor due to religious reasons, but her cause of death was later determined to be due to diabetes complications.

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