Fans Mourn the Loss of Disney Star

Cameron Boyce (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

By Mayte Peña

Well-known for his rolesas Luke in the Disney Channel show “Jessie,”andCarlos from the “Descendants”franchise,20-year-old American actor, Cameron Mica Boyce, died in his sleep on July 6, 2019, leaving millions of fans heartbroken.

 A Boyce family spokesperson told ABC News thatthe actorpassed away due to an epileptic seizure, an ongoing medical condition that the young starsuffered from since childhood, despite years of treatment. 

Lehman students were among his fans in mourning. Lehman student,Natalia Palacios, a 21-year-old senior dance major, said that she didn’t know that Boyce had suffered from epilepsy. “I feel like he really hid it so well even from his friends.”

At age 9, Boyce made his acting debut in the 2008 horror film “Mirrors.” In 2010 he appeared in the blockbuster comedy “Grown Ups” as one of the sons and joined the Disney family as Luke Ross on “Jessie,”which ran for four seasons. His fame grew in 2015 when he became part of the “Descendants” world, a Disney trilogydirected by Kenny Ortega,which follows the children of the Disney villains. Boyce played Carlos de Ville, son of the “101 Dalmatians” villain, Cruella de Vil.

 On a Disney Channel marathon of the “Descendants”movies, the final movie had 8.43 million viewers according to Hollywood Reporterand featured a tribute to Boyce. The Boyce family created the Cameron Boyce Foundation in his honor. Its mission repeats a phrase Boyce used when receiving an award. He hoped to keep at-risk teens and adults off the streetsandto provide “young people artistic and creative outlets as alternatives to violence and negativity.”

Lehman sophomore and psychology major Jade Pratt, 19, said, “Cameron was so talented, and it saddens me that we can’t see how he would have blossomed.”