Actor Buddy Duress, best known for his role in “Heaven Knows What” and starring alongside Robert Pattinson in “Good Time,” has died at age 38.
Duress’ death was confirmed by his brother Christopher Stathis, who revealed to People that the actor died in Nov. 2023.
His cause of death was a “cardiac arrest from a drug cocktail,” Stathis said.
The Queens native made his acting debut in Josh and Benny Safdie’s film “Heaven Knows What” in 2014, which he landed shortly after being released from Rikers Island after serving for drug-related charges.
Born in Queens in May 1985, Duress went to Robert Louis Stevenson High School in Manhattan.
He kickstarted his acting career a decade ago, and appeared in several films including, “Funny Pages,” “Flinch,” “Beware of Dog,” and “The Mountain.”
Duress had two more projects slated to be released later this year, titled “Skull” and “Mass State Lottery,” according to his IMDb page,
The actor had a long history of legal troubles and had been in and out of jail at least 10 times on charges ranging from heroin possession to identity theft.
In 2019, The Post reported that comedian Pete Davidson was such a fan of Duress that he wanted him to audition for his “Untitled Judd Apatow — Pete Davidson Comedy,” directed by Apatow. The film eventually ended up being titled “The King of Staten Island” and released in 2020.
“I could have done the [Apatow] movie. But instead, I am here in jail,” Duress said at the time.
“He asked me if he could get another shot [in showbiz]. ‘If not,’ he said, ‘I could kill myself now.’ He is a wildly talented actor. But he needs to focus on acting instead of hustling on the streets.”
Duress was at Rikers when his big break, “Heaven Knows What,” premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2014.
Three years later, director Dustin Guy Defa cast Duress in “Person To Person” after going to Rikers to audition him.
At the time, Duress said he had been clean and was keen to shift his focus on pursuing a career in Hollywood.
“I’m done with the drugs, man,” he said in 2017. “I want to get the f–k out of [jail], get on with my life and keep acting.”
The actor is survived by his mother Jo-Anne and younger brother Christopher.
