Departures of note

Michael Wright was an American actor born in New York City on April 30, 1956. He began his professional stage career in 1978 and went on to build a wide-ranging career across film and television over more than four decades. He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role in the 1983 drama Streamers, and appeared in films including The Wanderers, The Principal, Sugar Hill, and The Interpreter.

Wright was widely recognized for his television work, playing Elias Taylor in the science-fiction series V: The Series and its miniseries predecessors, and Omar White in the HBO prison drama Oz. He also appeared in Miami Vice, New York Undercover, and Black Lightning, among many other series.

He is perhaps best remembered for his powerful performance as Eddie King Jr., the troubled lead singer in Robert Townsend's 1991 musical drama The Five Heartbeats, which became a cult classic. Wright died in Los Angeles on August 19, 2026, at the age of 70.