News broke this week that Stargate SG-1 and Dawson’s Creek’s Obi Ndefo had died at age 51. It was his sister who first shared the news, sharing in a message that her beloved “younger” brother had passed away years after a 2019 car accident had left him without both of his legs.
Nkem Ndefo shared a picture of her brother on Facebook and wrote a message, though cause of death has not been disclosed at this time.
Heartbroken at the loss of my younger brother and knowing he’s finally at peace .
My first recollection of Obi Ndefo was in Stargate SG-1 where he played Rak-nor, a member of the Free Jaffa Nation with connections to main character Teal’c. I first watched the series on DVD in the early aughts, but more recently the actor had come back onto my radar after I started binge-watching Dawson’s Creek.
For Holmes, though, the connections were not loose. Ndefo was an integral part of her growing up experience. He played a reasonably large role in the first season of the hit teen drama (after replacing George Gaffney, who starred in the Dawson's Creek pilot) when Holmes was still a teenager. He would have had scenes with her quite often as his character was dating Joey’s sister on the series, Bessie Potter. (The two were in an interracial relationship that was seen as taboo by some characters on the series at the time.)
Holmes took to her Stories to recall her time working with Obi Ndefo, then a young Yale graduate taking on his most prominent TV role at that time. (He’d later appear in six episodes of Stargate SG-1 and in several guest roles on shows like NCIS: LA, The West Wing and NYPD Blue). Holmes called her former co-star “wonderful,” also sharing a picture from the show on her Instagram account.
Other series lead Mary-Margaret Humes (who played Dawson's mom Gail) also paid tribute to the actor on Instagram, calling him a part of her “TV family.” She also wrote:
These words don’t come easy 💔It’s hard for me to conceive that you have left us, my dear friend. You always were and always will be a bright shining light. What an example of pure unfiltered love and tenacity you set as you faced life’s challenges of recent. I will cherish all of our messages of love and support to each other over the past few years. Rest in peace sweet warrior. 🙏🕊️❤️💫
A few years back, Ndefo had gotten into a car accident that led to the loss of both of his legs. The accident was a DUI hit and run outside of Erewhon Market in Los Angeles where he'd been shopping for groceries following a yoga class. A drunk driver hit him while he was standing beside his vehicle and a bystander stayed with him until paramedics arrived, according to an NBC report at the time.
He kept himself going with positive mantras at the time, telling news outlets, "I can do this. And I want to keep being a contributor to the world," and later said he held no anger over the incident. He founded the Arts Alliance for Humanity in the Los Angeles area and worked for many years in the Los Angeles community, including his acting stints.
Our thoughts go out to his friends, his family and his TV family at this time.
