July 6th, 2019 brought about tragic news regarding actor Cameron Boyce’s life. At the age of 20, Boyce died in his sleep due to epilepsy.
Throughout his life, Boyce made several appearances on Disney Channel and Disney XD. His first Disney appearance was as a guest star on an episode of Good Luck Charlie. In this, he played the fake younger son of Amy Duncan (actress Leigh-Allyn Baker) in April of 2011. Later, that August, he was a featured dancer on Shake It Up. Then, in September, he acquired his first role as a main cast member of the sitcom Jessie, where he starred as Luke Ross, the second child of two socialites in movie production.
In 2015, upon the conclusion of Jessie, Boyce acquired a role in the acclaimed Disney Channel Original Movie franchise Descendants. Descendants is a film collection of three movies that explores the idea of the Disney classics being looped into a single universe. It coexists with a novel series called the Isle of the Lost, written by Melissa de la Cruz. In this, Boyce starred in the main cast as Carlos de Vil, the tech-savvy son of Cruella de Vil, who, unlike his mother, likes dogs.
Also in 2015, Boyce gained the protagonistic role in Disney XD’s short-lived series Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything, as well as a guest role Krahgg the Insidious on Liv and Maddie.
But, before and during his Disney career, Boyce had an acting career in cinema. It all began with his role as Michael Carson in Mirrors in 2008 (that year, Boyce also appeared on television in General Hospital: Night Shift as Michael “Stone” Cates, Jr.) as well as Sam Holloman in Eagle Eyes. With no cinematic or television appearances in 2009, 2010 brought about his fourth acting role: in comedy Grown Ups, Boyce played Keith Feder, a role that brought him co-starring alongside comedic legend Adam Sandler. Sandler would later guest star on Jessie as himself.
In 2013, Boyce reprised his character as Keith Feder in Grown Ups 2.
In 2017, Boyce reunited with actress China Anne McClain who also starred in the Grown Ups franchise as Charlotte McKenzie when she took on the role of the antagonist in Descendants 2 — Uma, daughter of Ursula. In this television film, Boyce’s character Carlos went through the development of learning how to express his feelings to a girl, specifically one named Jane (Brenna D’Amico), the daughter of Fairy Godmother (Melanie Paxson).
In 2018, filming began for the third installment of the Descendants franchise. According to the Wikia site, it would be the final film due to Boyce’s choice to leave Disney. And according to some sites, he had been seen in 2019 with Sandler. It’s been revealed that he had teamed up with Sandler for a comedic film called Runt; as of now, it’s in post-production and will be released at an unknown date. Before his death, Boyce also landed roles in future shows called Mrs. Fletcher and Paradise City.
Then, during his sleep on the night of July 6th, Boyce, only 20 years old, had an epileptic seizure which resulted in his sad death.
Upon news of his death, producers of Descendants 3 canceled the red-carpet premiere in order to add a dedication to the late Boyce both in the beginning and at the end with between-the-scenes footage of him.
To some, Cameron Boyce was just an actor. To others, he was really humorous as well as a spectacular dancer. But in all, Boyce was many things, and for that, he shall be remembered. Rest in peace, Cameron Mica Boyce.
