Actor Nicky Katt, known for his memorable roles in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, the 2000 drama Boiler Room, and the television series Boston Public, has died at the age of 54. His death was confirmed to Page Six by John Sloss, founder and partner at Sloss Law, the firm that represented Katt legally. The cause of death has not been made public.
Katt, born on May 11, 1970, was widely recognized for portraying complex and often edgy characters. In Dazed and Confused, he played Clint Bruno, a high school bully who famously picks a fight with Adam Goldberg’s character, Mike Newhouse. On television, Katt had a leading role as Harry Senate, a bold and unconventional geology teacher, during the first three seasons of the Fox drama Boston Public. He also made a guest appearance in the iconic sitcom Friends in 1996.
His film credits also include Steven Soderbergh’s Full Frontal (2002), where he starred alongside Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. In the movie, he played an egotistical actor taking on the role of Adolf Hitler in a fictional stage production titled The Sound and the Fuhrer. Soderbergh praised Katt’s performance in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, describing him as “absolutely fearless” in his approach to acting. Katt himself noted that the role allowed him to channel some of the frustrations he had faced as a working actor. “There’s so much desperation in the air, in Los Angeles especially,” he told the publication. “You don’t notice it in New York as much. Everybody plays it a little cooler there… I think Stanley Kubrick called the vibe in LA a ‘low-level malevolence.’ It eats away at you at some point.”
Katt also appeared in HBO’s Behind the Candelabra (2013), the Liberace biopic, adding another noteworthy title to his résumé. His final acting credit came in 2018 with an appearance in the Hulu series Casual.
Katt was previously married to Annie Morse from 1999 to 2001.