Angus Cloud played one of the most beloved characters in one of the biggest shows on television, HBO’s Euphoria. Then soaring fame and a devastating loss complicated his pre-existing battle with drug addiction and mental illness, resulting in his death at just 25 years old.
Cloud played Fezco on Euphoria, Rue’s endearing drug dealer who developed a fan-favorite romantic relationship with Maude Apatow’s Lexi Howard in the show’s second season. He was walking down a Manhattan street when he was scouted by a casting agent and asked to audition for Fez, which Cloud initially thought was some kind of scam. A fellow Oakland, California native like his co-star Zendaya, Cloud had moved to New York without much of a plan and was working at a chicken & waffle diner in Bushwick when it happened.
He went on to book a roll of smaller jobs, most of which were released posthumously, such as The Line, Your Lucky Day, Freaky Tales, and Abigail.
How did Angus Cloud die?
Angus Cloud died on July 31, 2023, at his Oakland family home, from an accidental overdose. Per Entertainment Weekly, Alameda County Coroner’s Office found a deathly combination of methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, and benzodiazepines in the actor’s system.
The actor’s mental health and drug addiction had been a concern among his team and circle for a while, and his family confirmed that the death of Cloud’s father a week before had taken a toll on his well-being. Euphoria creator Sam Levinson had tried to help Cloud, staging an intervention and facilitating a rehab program that was paid for by HBO in between the show’s two seasons, to no avail.
“I could always feel that he didn’t want [sobriety] as much as we all wanted it for him,” the filmmaker told People on the heels of Cloud’s untimely death. The actor relapsed during the filming for season 2, where his character gained prominence, but he let Levinson and his wife take him to rehab, telling them he “[felt] just like [the show’s protagonist, played by Zendaya, who also battles substance abuse] Rue.” Cloud told Levinson he would get sober for season 3, but the older man says his heart was never in it.
I could tell, at that time, it was like he wasn’t interested. He wasn’t going to do anything, and yeah, he didn’t want it.”
A few short months before Cloud’s death, in April, his ex-talent manager, Diomi Cordero, took to X (then Twitter) to expose some of the young actor’s alleged behaviors and express concern for his health. The since-deleted thread, accessed via a Page Six article, mentioned that the two met in a rehab clinic where Cordero worked as a “mental health technician,” forming a friendship and entering a professional relationship in April of 2021.
Cordero helped Cloud develop his career by hiring new agents and publicists, but worried that his drug-using friends would threaten his sobriety. “Their reckless behavior and lack of regard for Angus’ recovery served as a significant obstacle to his progress,” the talent manager claimed, “ultimately contributing to his relapse.”
In early 2022, just before the actor flew to Oklahoma to film The Line, Cordero alleges he had to perform CPR on him after he stopped breathing. “Regrettably, as he regained consciousness, Angus vomited onto my face,” the talent manager alleged. Cordero further accused Cloud of failing to pay “outstanding management commissions (…) totaling over $60.000.”
Angus Cloud was remembered by his castmates as a talented, kind, and warm-hearted person. “I’m so grateful I got the chance to know him in this life, to call him a brother, to see his warm kind eyes and bright smile, or hear his infectious cackle of a laugh,” Zendaya shared in a touching tribute. Sam Levinson, who was charmed by Cloud from the beginning, said the 25-year-old was “too special, too talented, and way too young to leave us so soon.”
