Actor A. Russell Andrews, whose credits include “Straight Outta Compton,” “Insecure” and “Better Call Saul,” says he is living with ALS, the same disease that claimed the life of actor Eric Dane in February.
Andrews initially thought he had a stroke during the COVID-19 lockdowns, he told Elex Michaelson of CNN on “The Story Is,” where he appeared Saturday with fiancée Erica Tazel. “It was a stressful time. We didn’t work for three years, about, and then we had the back-to-back strikes,” he said. The actor, who founded the stage company StageWalkers Productions, lost his insurance because of the lack of work and didn’t see a doctor until 2025.
“I am a person living with ALS,” the 64-year-old said. “I was diagnosed in the late fall of last year, and it’s been humbling.”
Things had been happening to him that he realizes in hindsight were symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, so once he had insurance again he went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center “on a whim.” Within 15 minutes, he said, the primary care doctor was urging him to go see a neurologist.
“And here we sit,” he said.
“There were moments, there were twitches, there were things — I thought I was having pinched nerves in my neck, and they were quite frequent,” Andrews said. “But then I was not able to do things that I normally do. I was dropping cups and glasses, and at night it felt like things were running up and down my arms at different times.”
Tazel said she was “uncharacteristically calm” when he told her his news. “In a way, it was an answer to a lot of questions that we had.”
The progressive disease destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that a person needs to walk, talk, swallow and breathe, according to the ALS Assn. With no cure, most people die within three to five years of their first symptoms.
“Lovecraft Country” and “Queen Sugar” actor Tazel said she looked at Andrews from across the room and told him, “At least now we know what it is, and I still want to be your wife.”
Andrews — whose recent credits include “What I Learned in Paris” at South Coast Repertory theater in 2022 and an episode of “Shameless” in 2021 — was proud of the fact that he was able to walk into the CNN studio Saturday, he said, while many others with ALS would not be able to do so.
In addition to having Tazel in his corner, Andrews said he has had “the support of some other friends who reminded me how fortunate I am.”
Andrews suspects that playing football well into his college years might have something to do with his condition, but CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease that has been found in people exposed to repetitive head trauma — can be diagnosed only after a person dies.
Chicago Bears Pro Bowler Steve McMichael, who died of ALS in April 2025 after a five-year battle with the disease, was finally diagnosed with CTE last month after his wife donated his brain to researchers at Boston University.
“Too many NFL players are developing ALS during life and diagnosed with CTE after death. I donated Steve’s brain to inspire new research into the link between them,” Misty McMichael said in a statement when the posthumous diagnosis went public.
Andrews also said he walked into a family of caring people he didn’t know a year ago — the people in the ALS Network, who he said “have not let us miss a step in terms of care, the attention, the awareness and the ability to get me here today.”
“I think we’re gonna be OK,” Andrews said. “I hope that moving forward, what we do and what we say, the next guest, the next time they come to you and they say, ‘Elex, we have a cure.’ And that’s why we’re here.”
The post A. Russell Andrews, ‘Insecure’ and ‘Straight Outta Compton’ actor, reveals ALS diagnosis appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
