Andy Whitfield, known to American audiences as Spartacus has passed away at the age of
39. According to his manager Sam Maydew, Whitfield died Sunday of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Sydney, Australia.
Whitfield was an unknown in the States when he was cast as the hero Spartacus in the hit Starz Channel series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand. He was diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago just as the second season was going into production.
Whitfield was born in the U.K., grew up in Wales and studied at Sheffield University in England. He moved to Australia 12 years ago, attended drama school in Sydney and gained work as an actor, while also working as a diagnostic engineer, a job that required him to rappel down tall buildings.
In a statement release by his wife Vashti, she called her husband a “beautiful young warrior” who died on a “sunny Sydney morning” in the “arms of his loving wife.”
Whitfield was recently replaced by Liam McIntyre for the second season of Spartacus now called, Spartacus: Vengeance which begins airing in January 2012.
Andy Whitfield is survived by his wife and two children.
