Pierce Justin is best known as a skateboarder and actor for his controversial role in the movie "Kids." Justin shocked his friends and the whole world when he committed suicide in 2000 in a hotel room in Las Vegas.
Childhood
Justin Charles Pierce was born March 21, 1975 in London, but grew up in Manhattan, in New York, attended school in the Bronx.
The boy's parents separated when he was 15. After his parents divorced, he lived with his mother in northeastern Pennsylvania and attended Delaware Valley High School in Milford. But after some time, Justin Pierce returned to New York.
The boy got out of control, dropped out of school and left home, often staying in the basement with other skateboarders. He was later arrested for possession of marijuana and heroin. At the age of 19, Justin returned to live with his parents.
Beginning of an acting career
Once, when Justin was skateboarding at Washington Square Park in New York, he was spotted by the controversial photographer Larry Clark. During this time, Larry was working on his first directorial work on the life of New York's “street children”. The script was written by 18-year-old Harmony Corin in 1993. For this work, the young screenwriter was inspired by the skateboarder Quim Cardona, who was originally supposed to play the role of Telly (which eventually went to Leo Fitzpatrick) in the film.
Justin got the role of Casper, Telli's friend.
During the filming, Pierce had a fight with a bouncer of one club and broke his wrist. Since his character in the film has no injuries, they had to wait for the shoot to finish casting. In the pool scene, you can see Justin holding his arms above his head. He did this to reduce pain in his wrist.
The film "Kids" was released in 1995 and was a great success. The role of Casper brought Justin the Spirit of Independence award for the best breakthrough of the year.
In 1997, Justin Pierce moved from New York to Los Angeles and began working on his acting career. In the same year, he appears in two films: “The Fraternal Kiss” and “The First Condemned”.
Justin continued to receive roles in several independent films, including a small role in the series Malcolm in the Spotlight.
In 1999, Justin Pierce married stylist Gina Rizzo in Las Vegas. They lived together in Los Angeles with two dogs. It is possible that a year after the wedding they had a daughter, but there is no exact information about this.
In 2000, Justin starred with Ice Cube in the movie Next Friday. As part of the advertising campaign, the entire crew went to Las Vegas. Justin stayed in a suite at the Bellagio Hotel. July 10, he did not come to the local mall to sign autographs.
End of life and cause of death
Justin Pierce was found hanged that day in his hotel room. He was 25 years old.
Justin left two suicide notes, but they were not made public.
The Catholic service for Justin was held the next day at the Cathedral in the Italian district of Manhattan.
Seth Rosenfeld says of Justin: “Michael Rapaport said I need to meet this great actor. And then I started hearing all these things about which Justin was problematic. But when I met him, he turned out to be completely different. He was good "an actor who is always ready for work. Justin had a difficult life. He was very wise for such a young age. He had the soul of an old man, but a very sweet child was hiding under his rough shell."
We may never know why Justin Pierce ended his life like this. But one thing we know for sure: he will always live in the amazing film works that he left behind.