Actor was best known for Star Trek: Discovery
Canadian also appeared in the film Captain Marvel and other TV series
Kenneth Mitchell, a Canadian actor known for roles on the series Star Trek: Discovery, died on Saturday. He was 49.
His death was confirmed in statements Sunday on the Star Trek website and his personal Instagram page.
For more than five years, Mitchell had been battling ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the Instagram post read. “And in truest Ken fashion, he managed to rise above each (challenge) with grace and commitment, to living a full and joyous life in each moment,” it added.
In Star Trek: Discovery, Mitchell played Klingon characters Kol, Kol-sha and Tenavik, as well as Aurellio, a character who used a hovercraft wheelchair. In an Instagram post, he described Aurellio's creation as a “special collaboration with my Discovery family that injected me with heaps of Love & Inspiration during my tough battle with ALS.”
Mitchell also appeared in the film Captain Marvel (2019), in which he played Joseph Danvers, the father to superhero Carol Danvers/captain Marvel, and he had roles in the TV series Nancy Drew and The Detectives.
In 2020, Mitchell opened up about his ALS diagnosis in an emotional interview with People, in which he shared that he was using a wheelchair.
“The moment that they told us it was (ALS), it was like I was in my own movie,” he said, holding back tears. “That's what it felt like, like I was watching that scene where someone is being told that they have a terminal illness. It was just a complete disbelief, a shock.”
ALS affects the nerve cells that make the muscles function in the upper and lower parts of the body, and causes the cells to stop working and die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last August, Mitchell marked five years living with ALS, thanking his friends and family in an Instagram post. “There is so much beauty in that. This disease is absolutely horrific ... yet despite all the suffering, there is so much to be grateful for,” he wrote alongside a photo of himself on a beach.