Latest in Nelsan Ellis

UPDATE, 4:30 PM: A statement has been issued on behalf of Nelsan Ellis’ father, revealing the circumstances surrounding the True Blood actor’s death on Saturday.  In it, he shares he shares his son’s battles with drug and alcohol addiction. The statement, released earlier today, follows in full. “Nelsan's father, has…

Nelsan Ellis, who has died of complications from heart failure at age 39, is being remembered by his True Blood co-stars as a “magnificent talent” and “one of a kind artist.” Ellis played the flamboyant Lafayette Reynolds throughout the entire 2008-14 run of the HBO signature series, adding heart, grit and fierce gay…

EXCLUSIVE: Olivia Thirlby (Juno, Dredd) and Nelsan Ellis (True Blood) have joined the ensemble cast of The Stanford Prison Experiment, about the infamous 1971 psychological exercise in which college students exhibited shocking cruel and sadistic behavior when divided into camps of prisoners and prison guards. Helmed…

Ian McShane (Hercules, Deadwood) and Nelsan Ellis (Get On Up, True Blood) have joined Dan Pritzker’s biopic Bolden. Gary Carr (Downton Abbey) stars as legendary musician Buddy Bolden, whom many consider the father of jazz. Pic is set in 1931 New Orleans, when Buddy Bolden, a long-time asylum inmate, hears the strains…

Director Lee Daniels has tapped Nelsan Ellis to play Martin Luther King Jr in The Butler. Ellis, who plays Lafayette Reynolds in True Blood, most recently completed The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Gods Behaving Badly. He’s directing the documentary Damn Wonderful. ICM Partners and Brookside Artist Management rep…