Nicholas Brendon, an actor who played the lovable, clownish sidekick on the hit television show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” has died. He was 54.
His family confirmed the death in a brief statement on Mr. Brendon’s Instagram page on Friday, saying he had died in his sleep. He died Friday morning at his home in Indiana, according to his publicist, Rebecca Taylor.
Mr. Brendon said in 2023 that he had suffered a heart attack. He also had several surgeries for a syndrome related to nerve compression at the end of the spinal cord.
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which aired from 1997 to 2003, depicted Buffy, a teenage girl called upon to protect the world from monsters as she and her friends navigated high school life. It aired on the WB network for five seasons before transitioning to UPN for its final two.
Mr. Brendon played Xander Harris, a close friend and unrequited admirer of Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. A New York Times review of the show’s premiere described Xander as a would-be Don Juan who had a “tragic hairstyle” — shaggy bangs falling over his eyes — and emanated a premature sense of his own attractiveness to girls.
Mr. Brendon would go on to play Xander in an animated series and video game spinoffs.
After his breakout role in “Buffy,” he played the pastry chef Seth Richman in “Kitchen Confidential,” a TV adaptation of Anthony Bourdain’s memoir of the same name. He starred alongside Bradley Cooper, who played Jack Bourdain, an executive chef recovering from substance abuse. The show, which premiered on Fox in 2005, was canceled after 13 episodes.
From 2007 to 2014, he had a recurring role as an FBI technical analyst on the police procedural series “Criminal Minds.” In 2010, he appeared in four episodes of the medical drama “Private Practice” as Lee McHenry, a patient who assaults one of the show’s leads.
He also starred in a handful of thriller films, including “Redwood” (2017), “The Nanny” (2018) and “Christmas Slasher” (2024), his final acting credit.
Nicholas Brendon Schultz was born on April 12, 1971, in Los Angeles, according to his website. He arrived three minutes after his twin brother, Kelly Donovan Schultz, who would later appear in an episode of “Buffy” as Xander’s sinister double.
Mr. Brendon played baseball at Chatsworth High School, but an arm injury that he suffered after graduation ended his dream of playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The injury forced him to consider other career options, and he settled on acting.
About two months after he started acting, Mr. Brendon said recently, he was cast in “Buffy.”
“I got lucky,” he said.
His first film role was in “Psycho Beach Party” (2000), a campy satire about teenagers in 1960s Malibu exploring their sexuality. Mr. Brendon, who used his middle name as his last name for his acting career, portrayed Starcat, the love interest of the film’s protagonist, Chicklet.
Mr. Brendon credited acting with helping him to overcome the stutter he developed at age 7, and he served as an ambassador for the Stuttering Foundation, a nonprofit that supports research into the causes of stuttering.
He married the actor Moonda Tee in October 2014, days after announcing their engagement on social media. He said a few months later that they had separated.
Outside of acting, he was a painter and a photographer. He co-wrote a volume of a popular “Buffy” comic book series in 2014.
Mr. Brendon is survived by his parents, Robert and Kathleen Schultz; and his brothers Kelton, Christian and Kyle.
In 2023, Mr. Brendon said on social media that he had suffered a heart attack.
He also suffered from cauda equina syndrome, which is caused by a compression of nerves at the end of the spinal cord and often leads to pain and weakness in the lower body. He said in 2021 that he was having a second spinal surgery to correct the syndrome. His manager said on social media last year that had undergone another spinal surgery.
Mr. Brendon openly discussed his struggle with depression after a 2015 incident in Tallahassee, Fla., in which he damaged a hotel room. He said he had stopped taking his medication for depression, which led to him taking too many sleeping pills with alcohol.
“A lot of it has to do with my coming to terms with the stuff I’m having to deal with inside of my head, which is not fun,” he said in an interview that year with the Tallahassee Democrat.
He frequently spoke to fans through Facebook livestreams, answering questions about “Buffy,” his career and his health. In a livestream on March 15, he addressed Hulu’s cancellation of a planned “Buffy” reboot, saying that he felt hurt because the series’ creator, Joss Whedon, had not been involved in the reboot.
Ms. Gellar confirmed the cancellation a few days later.
Mr. Whedon’s image as a feminist and a thoughtful nerd has collapsed in recent years, after he was accused of treating actors cruelly on set and having affairs with employees. He has disputed some of the allegations.
“It broke my heart,” Mr. Brendon said on the livestream, referring to the fallout from the allegations. He asked fans to forgive Mr. Whedon.
Mr. Brendon said that although his spinal syndrome had forced him to retire from acting, he believed there were more stories to be told about “Buffy” and her friends.
He added that thousands of people had told him that the show helped them in hard times.
“It just got them through, which means that this show is more than just dollars and cents,” he said. “It’s something that needs to be honored.”
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
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