Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Broadway Actor Nick Cordero Dies At 41 After Months-Long Battle With Coronavirus
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 6, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Shutterstock
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 6, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Broadway actor Nick Cordero, who starred in Waitress, A Bronx Tale and Bullets Over Broadway, has died in Los Angeles after a months-long battle with coronavirus. He was 41.
The announcement was made on Sunday by Cordero's wife Amanda Kloots, who has been documenting his struggle with the virus on Instagram since he was infected in late March. The couple, who married in September 2017, have a one-year-old son named Elvis.
"God has another angel in heaven now," she wrote on Instagram. "My darling husband passed away this morning. He was surrounded in love by his family, singing and praying as he gently left this earth. I am in disbelief and hurting everywhere. My heart is broken as I cannot imagine our lives without him. Nick was such a bright light. He was everyone’s friend, loved to listen, help and especially talk. He was an incredible actor and musician. He loved his family and loved being a father and husband. Elvis and I will miss him in everything we do, everyday."
According to Kloots, Cordero first got sick on March 20th with what was initially diagnosed as pneumonia; it was later confirmed to be COVID-19. “He could not get out of bed, so tired, no energy, that was really his only symptom,” she told BuzzFeed at the time.
He was hospitalized, and soon after was placed into a medically induced coma. Over the course of the next months, he was in-and-out of consciousness, and was kept alive with the use of a ventilator, dialysis and a specialized heart-lung bypass machine. He suffered heart attacks, sepsis, underwent a tracheotomy, and his right leg was amputated.
"He had no pre-existing health conditions. We do not know how he got COVID-19 but he did," she wrote in an Instagram post on May 8th. "This disease does not only effect [sic] old people. This is real. A perfectly healthy 41 year old man!"
Cordero, who was born in Hamilton, Ontario, made his Off-Broadway debut as the lead in The Toxic Avenger stage play in 2008 before making his Broadway debut in Rock Of Ages in 2012. His breakout role came in Bullets Over Broadway, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. He then starred in Waitress and A Bronx Tale in 2016. He also appeared in multiple episodes of TV series Blue Bloods and Law & Order: SVU.
Kloots has been living in the guesthouse of actor Zach Braff, who starred with Cordero in Bullets Over Broadway, during the past months. Braff wrote on Twitter, "I can honesty tell you I have never met a kinder human being. Don’t believe that Covid only claims the elderly and infirm."
An online fundraiser for Kloots and her son has already raised over $800,000. Other friends, Broadway stars and admirers paid tribute to him online as well.
Tagged
COVID-19
Nick Cordero
coronavirus
obit
broadway
death
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
NYC music in October: The Strokes, a Blink-182 cover band, and Polish experimentalism
An excellent and diverse month of concerts are in store for October.
By
Hank Shteamer
Published Oct 2, 2026
Are you a New Yorker? The Department of New Yorker Verification will now decide.
There is now an (un)official verification process for those who can claim the title of city resident.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Arts & Entertainment
Are you a New Yorker? The Department of New Yorker Verification will now decide.
There is now an (un)official verification process for those who can claim the title of city resident.
By
Hannah Frishberg
In the mood for a pastoral autumn experience? Try Queens.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
October is spooky season at the movies in New York City
By
Emma Stefansky
At the Museum at FIT, an argument for dolls as the ultimate fashion influencers
By
Quinn Moreland
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .