The actor, who also starred in many Spike Lee films, died on Tuesday in New York.

Isiah Whitlock Jr., The Wire and Veep actor, dies at 71

The actor, who also starred in many Spike Lee films, died on Tuesday in New York.

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in *TV Guide Magazine*, E! News/E! Online, *The Hollywood Reporter*, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, *The Daily Northwestern*, and more.

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on December 30, 2025 7:29 p.m. ET

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Isiah Whitlock Jr. Credit:

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Isiah Whitlock Jr., the veteran actor best known for starring on *The Wire *and* Veep*, has died. He was 71.

His manager Brian Liebman told Deadline that Whitlock died peacefully on Tuesday in New York after battling a short illness.

"It is with tremendous sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend and client Isiah Whitlock Jr.," Liebman wrote on Instagram. "If you knew him - you loved him. A brilliant actor and even better person. May his memory forever be a blessing. Our hearts are so broken. He will be very, very missed."**

Whitlock was born in Indiana, and joined San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater after graduating from college to kickstart his acting career. His first major role onscreen was on the CBS police procedural drama *Cagney & Lacey* in 1987, and went on to make guest appearances in many series before his major breakout on *The Wire*.

Whitlock became known for his role as the corrupt politician Clay Davis in all five seasons of the HBO crime drama. He continued to star as politicians — albeit as very different characters from his previous role — on TV, first on HBO's satirical comedy *Veep*, playing the bumbling Secretary of Defense Gen. George Maddox, before playing Charlie Figaro, a politician with connections to organized crime, on Showtime's *Your Honor.*

Isiah Whitlock Jr. on 'The Wire'.

He was most recently seen on TV playing the Chief of Police on Netflix's White House murder mystery whodunnit series *The Residence*, which came out earlier this year.

While also appearing in many films, Whitlock is best known for his longtime collaboration with Spike Lee. He appeared in six movies from the Oscar-winning filmmaker: *25th Hour *(2002), *She Hate Me* (2004),* Red Hook Summer* (2012), *Chi-Raq* (2015), *BlacKkKlansman* (2018), and *Da 5 Bloods* (2020).

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In Whitlock's first film with Lee, he delivered what would become an iconic catchphrase, extending the delivery of the word "s---" into "sheeeeee-it," which he previously said was inspired by his uncle.

"I would always be fascinated by just the way he would say it, and when he would say it," Whitlock told *Slate* in 2015. “So now fast forward to when I started acting ... [Lee] had requested it and so I did it, and the rest is history."

Isiah Whitlock Jr., Tony Hale, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus on 'Veep'.

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Whitlock brought the catchphrase back in *She Hate Me, *and multiple instances on* The Wire*, resulting in fans saying it to him on the street.

Whitlock's final role will be released posthumously, as he previously recorded Pixar/Disney's upcoming animated film *Hoppers, *expected in 2026.**

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