Adan Cantu, the Mexican actor known for his roles in TV series such as “The Cleaning Lady” and “Designated Survivor” as well as playing Sunspot in the movie “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” died on Monday. He was 42 years old.
His agent, Jennifer Allen, confirmed his death and said the cause was appendicitis cancer. It did not say where he died.
In an acting career that has spanned more than a decade, Mr. Cantu has played a range of roles including that of an angry criminal bent on control, a poised politician, and a fiery comic book hero.
Mr. Cantu said in a 2013 interview with Collider that he was “always fascinated by people, their psychology, what drives them and trying to understand them.”
In “The Cleaning Lady,” which premiered on Fox in 2022, Mr. Cantu played gangster Arman Morales, who recruits a woman, played by Elodie Young, into his criminal organization after she witnesses a murder. The series enters its third season this year.
He also played politician Aaron Schur in “Designated Survivor,” an ABC political drama starring Kiefer Sutherland and Maggie Q. In 2014, Mr. Cantu starred as the mutant Sunspot in “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” a film he directed. First major film role.
Mr. Cantu was born on December 5, 1981 in Ciudad Acuña, a city located in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. He told Anthem magazine in 2022 that at the age of 7, he was an extra in the 1992 film adaptation of “Like Water for Chocolate,” which filmed scenes in his hometown.
“I remember it clearly, just the experience of being on set and creating the world,” Cantu told the magazine. “The wardrobe, the decorating, it was beautiful. But I never thought I would be part of that world.
Cantu also grew up in Del Rio, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border.
His career in entertainment officially began at the age of sixteen, when he decided to leave home to be a musician in Mexico City, singing in bars and producing songs for television.
He also found work in commercials there. After enough directors noticed his abilities, he was cast in the Mexican TV series “Estado de Gracia” in 2009.
“Music in Mexico wasn’t going well,” Mr. Cantu said in the interview with Collider. “So I fell into acting, and I fell in love with it. It was amazing! It was a great safe place to vent.”
In 2013, he made his US debut in the crime series The Following, starring Kevin Bacon. He also appeared in “Narcos,” “Mixology,” and “Blood and Oil.”
Mr. Cantu also directed “The Shot,” a 2020 short film that won awards at the San Antonio Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Awards, and the Iowa Independent Film Festival.
In his interview with Anthem magazine, Mr. Cantu said he felt the need to express himself artistically through directing.
“I just imagined certain worlds and imagined them in a certain way,” he said.
He met his wife, Stephanie Ann Cantu, in Brooklyn in 2012. In addition to Ms. Cantu, Mr. Cantu leaves behind two children, Romain Alder, 3, and Yves Josephine, 1.
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