‘Sons of Anarchy’ Star Theo Rossi Reveals Show’s Impact on Him to Mark 10-Year Anniversary

Theo Rossi scored his breakthrough role on Sons of Anarchy as Juice, and paid tribute to the show’s importance in his career on its 10th anniversary.

“Ten Years ago TODAY, @soafx began…..A few years later I finished my [pie emoji]!! OUR fans became FAMILY and together we made HISTORY,” Rossi wrote on Instagram, alongside a montage of his appearances on Sons. “Through the show I met my beautiful wife and we created OUR children. Which led to my TRUE destiny as a father and a mentor. I will always look back at my time in Charming and smile, as it truly was the beginning of it ALL. I often think about #Juice like he was real and imagine he is peaceful and laughing wherever he is. Thank you ALL for my LIFE.”

Sons of Anarchy debuted on FX on Sept. 3, 2008 and ran for seven seasons. Rossi starred as Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz, who made it to the seventh season before dying in the episode “Red Rose.” Since then, Rossi has joined the Marvel universe as Herman “Shades” Alvarez on Netflix’s Luke Cage. He also appeared in the films Bad Hurt, When the Bough Breaks, Lowriders and the upcoming Ghosts of War.

While Sons was instrumental in taking Rossi’s career to another level, it was also how he met his wife, Meghan McDermott. The couple have two sons, Kane Alexander and Arlo Benjamin.

McDermott surprisingly loved his “Juice” look, which included a shaved head and scalp tattoos.

“My wife absolutely loved the Juice look,” Rossi told Deadline in 2015. “She used to get extremely excited. In the new film I’m doing now I have a lot of hair and a beard, but I’m actually covered in tattoos all over my body and my arms. We were just on FaceTime before and she’s like, ‘You know, make sure when you get on the plane you don’t take those off.’”

Since Juice died during Sons, it is unlikely Rossi will get to play Juice again in the spin-off Mayans M.C. The new series starts about three years after the death of Jax Teller in the Sons series finale and tells the story of Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes (J.D. Pardo), who joins the Mayans after leaving prison. Emilio Rivera, who often appeared on Sons as Marcus Alvarez, the president of the Mayans M.C. Oakland charter, has a recurring role on Mayans.

The new series starts on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on FX. All seven seasons of Sons of Anarchy are also available to stream on FX+ and Amazon Prime video.

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