Andre Braugher, the Emmy-winning star of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, died from lung cancer, his representative said on Thursday.
The 61-year-old actor died on Monday.
He was best known for playing Captain Ray Holt in the hit show alongside his role as Detective Frank Pemberton, the lead role in the police drama, Homicide: Life on the Street.
He won an Emmy for his role in Homicide in 1998 and another in 2006 for his work in the crime thriller Thief.
Braugher generally revealed little about his private life, and his death was unexpected for many of his co-stars.
He told the New York Times in 2014 that he stopped smoking and drinking years ago.
The Chicago-born Braugher had his Hollywood breakthrough in the 1989 film "Glory" acting alongside Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.
Other notable credits include starring as Benjamin O Davis in Tuskegee Airmen, Dr Ben Gideon in Gideon’s Crossing and Owen in Men Of A Certain Age – all roles which won him Emmy Award nominations.
Braugher most recently starred in She Said, the biographical drama which sees Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play the investigative journalists who broke the Harvey Weinstein story.
He played Dean Baquet, the New York Times executive editor who oversaw the two reporters.
After his death, Braugher’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-star Terry Crews called him an “irreplaceable talent” and said: “I will be forever grateful for the experience of knowing you”.
“Can’t believe you’re gone so soon,” said Crews, who played Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, in an Instagram post.
“I’m honored to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared 8 glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent. This hurts. You left us too soon. You taught me so much,” Crews added.
