- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJustin Charles Pierce
- Height1.73 m
- Born in London, England to a Welsh mother and an Australian father, Justin Charles Pierce was raised in the Marble Hill section of Manhattan, New York City. He attended P.S. 7 in the Bronx for Elementary School and J.H.S. 141 in the Riverdale section of the Bronx for Junior High School. Pierce's parents divorced when he was 15 years old.
After his parents' divorce, he began acting out and skipping school in favor of skateboarding. Pierce soon dropped out of school and moved out, staying in a basement of a building with fellow skaters. Pierce was later found under arrest for the possession of marijuana and heroin substances found under his pants in a police road search. The results in the court hearing were found inconclusive which resulted in the releasing of Pierce. Pierce went back to live with his parents at the age of 19.
One day, while skateboarding in Washington Square Park, Pierce was discovered by film director Larry Clark. Clark then cast him in his controversial 1995 independent film Kids (1995). After the film's success, Pierce won an Independent Spirit Award for his portrayal of Casper, the foul-mouthed skater punk friend of Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick), and relocated to Los Angeles.
Pierce would go on to appear in the 1997 film A Brother's Kiss (1997) as the young Nick Chinlund. Pierce also appeared in two made-for-TV movies, La deuxième chance (1997) and This Is How the World Ends (2000), as well as the Fox sitcom, Malcolm (2000). He also starred alongside Ice Cube and Mike Epps in the motion picture Next Friday (2000).
On July 10, 2000, Pierce was found hanging in his room at the Bellagio hotel by hotel security.
A Catholic service for Pierce took place on July 15, 2000 at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in Manhattan's Little Italy, which was attended by Kids (1995) co-star Chloë Sevigny. But it was the memorial his friends held at the Public Theater that revealed the most about the actor. On a hot, sticky July afternoon, dozens of Pierce's tight family of skaters converged a few blocks uptown from the skateboard store Supreme, where Pierce was a fixture. As "Knocking on Heaven's Door" played over the sound system, the crowd wept openly while friends rose to memorialize Pierce.- IMDb mini biography by: Robbie DuSable
- SpouseGina Maria Rizzo(July 20, 1999 - July 10, 2000) (his death)
- New York accent
- His loud-mouthed skater punk attitude
- Was romantically linked to his Kids (1995) co-star Chloë Sevigny.
- Was born in London, but raised in Manhattan.
- Was also a professional skateboarder.
- His final film, Looking for Leonard (2002), was not released until two years after his death because production had been halted due to lack of funds. His character subsequently disappears from the film without explanation.
- Was discovered while skateboarding in streets of Manhattan.
- [After moving from New York to Los Angeles in 1997]: I'm becoming more and more bored in La La Land every day. People in L.A. don't seem real to me. All they care about is fucking movie stars.
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