The Canadian-born actress began working in television at the age of six. Photo: TNS
Samantha Weinstein, a Canadian-born actress who began working in television at the age of six, has died of cancer, her family said. She was 28 years old.
Weinstein, who was best known for her work in the 2013 remake of Carrie and the 2017 Netflix series Alias Grace, died early last week “surrounded by her loved ones at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto,” according to an Instagram post shared on her personal account.
“After two and a half years of cancer treatment, and a lifetime of jet-setting around the world, voicing a plethora of cartoon animals, making music, and knowing more about life than most people ever will, she is off on her next adventure,” the May 15 post read.
Weinstein opened up about her diagnosis in April 2021, writing on social media that she had been “battling a rare form of ovarian cancer for the past three months.” She had previously undergone surgery “to remove a massive cyst that swallowed one of (her) ovaries.”
In an Instagram post shared on April 26, the then-25-year-old thanked the medical staff at the Toronto hospital for the “incredible level of care” she was receiving. She added she was going to start documenting her progress as she got ready to start three rounds of chemotherapy, which she called her “toughest journey yet.”
Last July, in a lengthy essay reflecting on the 18 months since she was first diagnosed, Weinstein spoke candidly about receiving the “devastating news”, falling in love with her soon-to-be-husband Michael Knutson, and coming out as nonbinary.
“Getting cancer is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, but in the strangest of ways, it has also been the best thing,” she wrote.
“I have more love in my life and for myself than I ever could have imagined, and I see every day as a gift,” Weinstein added. “There are still days where I can’t stop crying – I’m in pain, or my thoughts get the better of me – but I’m learning to let my loved ones help carry the load.” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
