Jackson Odell, a young actor and songwriter who was best known for roles on ABC’s The Goldbergs and the teen movie Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer , has died, according to TMZ . Law enforcement shared that the young man died on Friday in the San Fernando Valley part of Los Angeles.
TMZ was told Odell, 20, was found unresponsive in a sober living home, and there were no signs of foul play, but there weren’t any other details or information that could shed light on how someone so young had his life cut short. Success had come early for Odell. He started acting at the tender age of 12, guesting on several hit TV shows, like Private Practice , iCarly , Modern Family (as Ted Durkas in two episodes shot two years apart), and Arrested Development. On the aforementioned The Goldbergs , he played Ari Caldwell from 2013-2015. The Colorado-born actor also appeared as Kyle on The Fosters . The last listing for him on the IMDB as an actor was in a 2016 TV show called Astrid Clover , which stars Allisyn Ashley Arm in the title role.
Recently pursuing a career as a songwriter, Odell wrote several songs for the soundtrack of the 2018 movie Forever Your Girl , including the Lauren Alaina hit, “Wings of an Angel.” Going by @jacksonstrings on Instagram, Odell had an account for his songwriting pursuits, though he hadn’t uploaded an update since January 6, 2017.
On Facebook, the young artist last posted publicly on December 27, 2017, announcing that he was in a relationship with a young woman named Ashley, as well as publicizing a concert appearance he was to be making on Thursday, May 29, 2014, at Cafe Hotel in Los Angeles. Earlier, he posted about another concert he was doing at Genghis Cohen on April 10, 2012. It was obvious from his Facebook posts that music had taken over as his passion for acting, and he was just finding a great deal of success with his songwriting when this happened.
His death comes on the heels of a rough week for the entertainment industry. Fashion icon Kate Spade took her own life on June 5, leaving behind her 13-year-old daughter, while food and travel guru Anthony Bourdain took his own life a few days later. While there hasn’t been a cause of death released for Odell, the fact that he was only 20-years-old and was found dead at a sober living house seems to compound the sadness and powerless feeling many are feeling after a week of tragedy.
