Actor Joe Coots, Star of KINKY BOOTS and More, Has Passed Away

Actor Joe Coots, known for starring as Dan in the First National Tour of Kinky Boots in 2014, has passed away.

On TV, Coots was featured on shows including Life & Beth (2022), New Amsterdam (2018), Chicago Fire (2012), Modern Family (2009), Closure (2018), Longmire (2012), Inside Amy Schumer (2013) and more.

Friends of Coots have taken to social media to pay tribute. Starlight Theatre, in Rockford Illinois, where Coots starred in multiple productions, shared:

Starlight Theatre joins the Rockford area theatre community in grieving the loss of one of our own. The singular, extraordinary Joe Coots passed away unexpectedly yesterday.
Joe began his stage days here in the area and appeared in multiple Starlight and Studio Productions including Rebels, Grease, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers amongst many, many others. He did move on, however, and took a chance on the craft he loved. He succeeded phenomenally and performed professionally, most notably in the national tours of The Full Monty and Kinky Boots.

Recently, you may remember him from our Virtually Starlight segment, “Joe Knows” where Joe interviewed professional actors that he knew from his professional experience outside of Starlight. If that’s the only place you know him from, you’ve only experienced a fraction of his charisma and talent. 

But if you knew him, you knew him as a dynamo - an extraordinary person-magnetic. An energetic, heaping ball of testosterone combined with an enormous amount of love. He was gravitational. Someone who drew you near and kept you there. And he was so intentional about telling you how awesome you were. He meant a lot to a lot of us, and he is gone much too early for all of us. 

While he may be another star shining his light from above us, it certainly feels dimmer here. Rest in Peace, brother. We miss you already.