13-Year-Old Broadway Actress Laurel Griggs Dies, Circumstances Unknown

A 13-year-old actress making her way on Broadway has reportedly passed away. Laurel Griggs, known for her role in a Tony-winning production of Once, among other things, died on Nov. 5. The circumstances of this mysterious passing are still under investigation.

Griggs was one of Broadway’s biggest rising stars, having shared the stage with Scarlett Johansson and even appeared on Saturday Night Live. Her obituary states only that she “was born on June 28, 2006 and passed away on November 5, 2019.” Her funeral services were held on Friday.

So far, no further details on Griggs’ passing are available, though entertainment news outlets are scrambling to find out what they can. The teen was known to the stage community for a Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, where she appeared alongside Johansson when she was just 6 years old.

Griggs had the longest run in the role of Ivanka in the musical Once that any actress has had so far, according to her IMDb page. The site also notes that Griggs balanced her acting career with her studies at public school, unlike many child stars who work with tutors to complete home school programs while they work.

Griggs had several TV credits to her name as well. She did the voices of Stella, Crab Kid and the Crab Sprouts on Nickelodeon’s Bubble Guppies in 2015, and she appeared in an episode of Louis C.K.’s show Louie that same year.

In 2016, Griggs was in the Woody Allen film Cafe Society with Jesse Eisenberg and other A-listers, as well as the TV series What Would You Do? Her two appearances on SNL came in 2017 — one in the episode hosted by Kumail Nanjianai, and the other hosted by James Franco.

Griggs was remembered fondly by members of the New York acting community this weekend, including actress Eliza Holland Madore, who also played Ivanka in Once on stage.

Fans flocked to Griggs’ own Instagram page as well, leaving their well-wishes in the comments of her last post.

“So sad when someone so young with such a bright future and so many amazing possibilities laid out in front of them that they never get to fulfill, that promise lost so young,” one fan wrote. “RIP and condolences to your loved ones.”