John Cygan (1954 - 2017), The Commish actor (original) (raw)

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Actor played a detective on “The Commish”…

John Cygan, an actor with more than two dozen film and TV credits on his resume including “The Commish,” died Saturday, May 13, 2017. He was 63.

Cygan’s death was announced on social media by fellow actor Michael Chiklis, who worked with him on “The Commish.” Cygan played Detective Paulie Pentangeli on the comedy TV series in the mid-1990s.

“Impossible to adequately describe the magnitude of his loss to my family and I,” Chiklis wrote in a tweet. “We started our friendship by playing best friends in The Commish… Sometimes art does imitate life.”

“You are loved, adored and already horribly missed Johnny. I know this… Heaven just got a lot funnier. RIP brother.”

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Cygan was born April 27, 1954, in New York City.

His other TV credits include “The X-Files,” “Diagnosis: Murder,” and “Modern Family.”

He provided voices in movies including “Cars,” “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” “Horton Hears a Who!”, and “The Lorax.”

He also voiced characters in video games including “Grand Theft Auto V” and “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty” – the latter as the character Solidus Snake.

In a 2011 interview, Cygan said he had often been recognized on the street for his television or theater work, “and then if asked about video games, I might rattle off a few titles and if someone has one of those titles they will ask me to do the character I played. When I give them a sample of the voice I used, their eyes widen and sometimes, they freak out. It’s kinda cool.”

Cygan is survived by his wife, Cathy, and two children, Annie and Jack.

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Legacy Staff

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