....died.

The Lion King's original Simba, Jason Raize, died last week of an apparent suicide in Yass, Australia. He was 28.

Raize, who was born on July 20, 1975 and grew up in Oneonta, New York. He began acting as a teenager, beginning his professional career in the summer of 1994 at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania. He appeared regionally in productions of La Cage aux Folles, Oklahoma!, The King and I, The Rocky Horror Show, Gypsy, West Side Story and Twelfth Night and the national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar before heading to Broadway. Best known to theater fans as the original Simba in the stage version of The Lion King, he remained with the hit show until August 20, 2000. Raize returned to the New York theater world in 2001 as the star of a concert presentation of Carmen Jones, presented as part of York Theatre Company's Musicals in Mufti series.

http://www.broadway.com/template_1.asp?CI=33877&CT=38

RIP Jason...you will be missed.