Glenn Quinn: Background, Career, Cause of Death

How long should a star live? The answer is simple, old enough to live in the hearts of their fans forever. Glenn Quinn died in December of 2002, nearly two decades past at the age of 32. But he was such a hit while he lived that his name has continually generated hits on Google, and here you are. For him. Here are facts about the star relating to his family, career and his struggles with drugs and eventual death.

Family Background

Glenn comes from a showbiz background. His father Murty Quinn was a musician. He was part of a musical group, Miami Showband, which toured the United States and attained many number one hits in the 1960s and 1970s.

If you have watched Quinn as Mark Healey in the show “Roseanne”, you will be forgiven for thinking he was an American, with an American accent so impeccable, he had to be. Well, he wasn’t. Quinn was born in Dublin, Ireland on 28th May 1971 and lived in the Cabinteely suburb of Dublin till 1988 when he, alongside his mother and two sisters, Sonja and Louisa, left Ireland. They settled in Los Angeles from hence his career in show business took root.

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Before becoming an actor, the young Quinn flirted with the idea of becoming a musician; more than an idea actually as he was a drummer for the musical band Winter’s Reign.

Glenn Quinn Career

Glenn Quinn’s career cuts across commercials, voice acting, television series, and films. He did commercials for Pepsi and Ray-Ban. He was a voice actor for three video games including “Star Wars: X-Wing vs Tie Fighter”, “Outlaws” and “Pirates 5”. He featured in the shows “The Jackie Thomas Show” as Mark Healy, “Fair City” as Joshua St. John and the “Roseanne” show which was his most popular show, the show that set him up in the hearts of millions of fans till date.

Because he was using an American accent for all his career (so far), it came as a pleasant relief and surprise when the producer of “Angel”, the series created by Joss Whedon which ran between 1999 and 2004, made his character Doyle speak with an Irish accent.

The fish was back to the water. Reacting to this to the Irish Times, Quinn said of his native accent: “I’ve been hiding it for so long that it’s amazing to have some freedom. It was like putting on an old pair of shoes. It’s bringing my soul back to life.”

Glenn’s film appearances ran between 1991 and 2002, between “Shout” the American musical romance film directed by Jeffrey Hornaday and “R.S.V.P.”, the American dark comedy and suspense film created and directed by Mark Anthony Galluzzo.

Drug Addiction

Glenn Quinn’s parents divorced while he was still living in the Republic of Ireland. He was hurt so much that he began to find solace in substances. This was in 1987 and Quinn was still a teenager. In the United States, Glenn did a handful of odd jobs to support himself including at building sites and at restaurants as a waiter. There is no information to suggest that these odd jobs exposed him to an abundance of substances nor added to his addiction. However, since first getting involved with drugs in 1987, Quinn struggled with it for the rest of his life.

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In the cause of his life, Quinn never married nor had children and at large chunks of time, at intervals, he was homeless and even struggled to remain sober long enough to do something about the state of his life. On an average day, Quinn would be seen in Goldfingers, the nightclub he partly owned in Los Angeles begging customers for money and making a nuisance of himself. Sick of this, the co-owners bought him off the business.

Glenn Quinn Cause of Death

The autopsy result of his death puts the cause of death as a heroin overdose. Drug overdose has turned out a major cause of death in the United States as the Centers for Disease Control estimates that it kills an average of 70,000 people in the States in each of the past few years.

Image source: Getty Images