Isabelle Adora Tate, an aspiring actress and songwriter who finally got her big break on the series premiere of 9-1-1: Nashville earlier this month, has died at age 23.
The McCray Agency confirmed the news of Tate’s death in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“We are deeply saddened and completely heartbroken to share that Isabelle Tate passed away on October 19th. She was 23,” said agent Kim McCray. “I’ve known Izzy since she was a teenager, and she recently returned to acting.”
No cause of death was given, though the Nashville native is said to have suffered from a rare progressive neuromuscular disease that confined her to a wheelchair.
TMZ reported that Tate suffered from Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a disease her agent told the outlet affects the legs but can also affect internal organs such as the lungs and heart.
Due to the condition, she had almost given up on acting, but then “booked the first series she auditioned for, 9-1-1: Nashville,” McCray said on social media.
According to Tate’s online obituary, she earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Middle Tennessee State University and was described as someone who “wanted to change the world.”
“Isabelle was full of fire, a fighter, never once making excuses for the fact that she might have a disability relative to others,” the obituary reads. “She was also quite musically inclined, often spending hours writing and recording songs with friends and even publishing a few.”
Tate appeared as Julie, one of a group of bachelorette partygoers involved in a crash, in the pilot episode of 9-1-1: Nashville, which aired on Oct 9.
The newest spinoff in the long-running 9-1-1 franchise stars Chris O’Donnell, Jessica Capshaw, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and LeAnn Rimes, among others. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
