Adán Canto, an actor known for his roles in “The Cleaning Lady”, “Designated Survivor” and “Narcos”, died.
The actor and singer died Monday of appendix cancer, Canto’s family told the Times in a statement Tuesday. He was 42 years old.
“Adam had a depth of spirit that few truly knew,” the statement said. “Those who glimpsed it were changed forever.”
Canto had recently been a star in the Fox crime drama series “The Cleaning Lady,” which is filming its third season. He played Arman Morales, a man associated with a powerful crime family in Las Vegas who agrees to protect the show’s protagonist, an undocumented immigrant from the Philippines in search of a cure for his young son’s rare disease.
“We are heartbroken to learn of the passing of Adán Canto,” Warner Bros. Television and Fox Entertainment said in a statement Tuesday. “A wonderful actor and dear friend, we have been honored to have him as part of the Warner Bros. Television and Fox Entertainment families since his U.S. debut on ‘The Following’ more than a decade ago. Most recently, he lit up the screen in ‘The Cleaning Lady’ with a powerful performance that showcased the artistry, range, depth and vulnerability of him.
“This is an unfathomable loss and we grieve along with his wife, Stephanie, his children and his loved ones. “Adam will be greatly missed.”
Canto also rose to fame with his role in the Fox thriller “Designated Survivor,” starring alongside Kiefer Sutherland. He played Aaron Shore, a politician and member of a fictional White House cabinet in a new administration reeling from an explosion at the Capitol.
Canto was born in Coahuila, Mexico, and his first contact with the film industry came at the age of 7, when the production of the popular Mexican romantic film “Like Water for Chocolate” was filmed in his hometown of Acuña, according to an interview by Anthem magazine. Canto was an extra in one of the film’s memorable scenes, in which the wedding guests, overcome with sadness, vomit into a river after eating a wedding cake made with the tears of the film’s protagonist.
“I remember it vividly, the experience of being on set and creating a world,” Canto told the magazine in 2022. “The costumes, the set design, it was something beautiful. But I never thought I would become part of that world. I never thought it was something you could aspire to or achieve coming from such a small town, right?
While moving between his hometown and Del Rio, Texas, for school, Canto, a self-taught guitarist, decided to pursue music. Later he would perform in various jazz groups as a singer and musician in the United States and in Mexico City. After working with film producers to compose music, he became interested in acting for the screen and decided to pursue acting.
She would go on to appear in the Mexican films “Amar No Es Querer” and “Te Presento a Laura” in the 2010s and then transitioned to Hollywood, landing roles on the shows “The Following” and “Mixology.” She also appeared on the Netflix show “Narcos.”
Speaking to the Observer about his move from Mexico to Hollywood, Canto said he was aware of how studios often typecast Latino actors as gangsters in crime dramas. Although she has accepted roles like that, she said she always looked for complex and multifaceted characters, like her role in “The Cleaning Lady.”
“I was honest with myself and my team throughout the entire process; obviously, I read certain characters or scripts that I immediately said, ‘Of course not! No!’” he said.
“I know the culture of northern Mexico [because] I was raised on this so I can tell when someone is struggling to find a reality that is far from being [the actual] reality, so I honestly stayed with the honesty inside me,” Canto added. “I didn’t want to do anything that didn’t sound right or didn’t feel right to me, and I think I’ve been blessed with good opportunities and I fought for other opportunities that weren’t necessarily handed to me.”
Canto is survived by his wife, Stephanie Ann Canto, and two young children, Roman and Eve.
