"KEEP BUSTIN'."

Darren Shahlavi

shahlavi2Hey guys, I got an email from Mike Leeder, a producer, casting director and bit player in numerous martial arts films (apparently he’s even an extra in ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA). He is co-producer of the upcoming JCVD film POUND OF FLESH, which co-stars the late Darren Shahlavi, and he’s trying to get the word out and squash some unfortunate rumors about how his friend died. So here he is:

On January 14th 2015, a very good friend British actor and martial arts hero Darren Shahlavi passed away, he left behind a legacy of work and great memories with so many people.

Unfortunately the tabloid press lead by scum like TMZ and sadly followed by various magazines, newspapers, websites and far too many “oh we know it all’ internet trolls implied it was by a drug overdose, and were happy to make unfounded statements that severely hurt his family, his friends and his memory.

Darren’s family recently received a Coroner’s report from the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, and would like to share the results with his friends, colleagues and fans.

Darren died on January 14, 2015 of natural causes: a sudden and fatal heart attack. He was found to have Atherosclerosis (also known as arteriosclerotic vascular disease or ASVD) His left anterior descending artery was 95% blocked, which must have been worsening for several years.

Darren had no drugs or medications in his body, and only 0.02% BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration); to put this into context 0.08% is the BAC Driving Limit for both he US & UK. There are no other medical factors linked to his death.

It seems unlikely that someone as fit as Darren – who was so dedicated to exercise and fitness and had such a healthy low fat/dairy diet – should have heart disease, but we have been told that a genetic predisposition resulted in the development of heart disease and is not uncommon in otherwise healthy young men, including athletes and other professional sportsmen and women*.

Evidence for Darren’s level of physical fitness at the time of his death can be seen in his recent work. Darren had just finished filming Pound of Flesh and Kickboxer: Vengeance, both with Jean-Claude Van Damme – not to mention Tomorrowland with George Clooney. He was, as far as physical fitness goes, at the top of his game.

Darren’s family are devastated that his underlying heart condition was never diagnosed to allow him the opportunity of treatment. Typically, Atherosclerosis begins in childhood, and Darren showed no apparent symptoms prior to death. Who would have thought that Darren who was regarded as very fit would die so suddenly as a result of this ‘silent killer’!

We have all been in shock for the past11 weeks with so many unanswered questions, but would now like to focus on the lessons that can be learned from Darren’s untimely death. We do feel that Darren would be the first to join us in sending warnings and advice to the friends and colleagues that he loved that regular health screening can save lives.

This is our message and we do hope that somehow positive publicity in Darren’s name can be made available to other young men and women, that may help them to take seriously the possibility that their body holds terrible secrets that can be revealed if they are tested routinely throughout life.

We hope that no other family has to go through the grief and pain that we are experiencing and that their loved ones get screening and subsequent treatment if necessary, that could prevent the tragic outcome that all who loved Darren are trying to come to terms with.

The Shahlavi family is raising funds to build a permanent memorial to Darren in Hollywood. More information at https://www.giveforward.com/…/1zf7/darren-shahlavi-memorial…

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2015 at 2:46 am and is filed under Blog Post (short for weblog). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

9 Responses to “Darren Shahlavi”

  1. Damn. Loved him in Bloodmoon with Gary Daniels and Chuck (not Eddie Murphy) Jeffries…

  2. I am glad Mike Leeder has made it clear what really happened. I remember Scott Adkins also posted something similar on his facebook, that it wasn’t a drug overdose. Have always been a fan of Shahlavi since seeing him in Tai Chi 2 with Wu Jing. Always happy when he would show up in films and tv shows. At least this clarifies what happened to the poor guy and shows up sites like TMZ as being the trash they are.

  3. The Original Paul

    April 29th, 2015 at 3:50 pm

    Fuckin’ Internets man. I’m sorry to hear about Shahlavi, and just depressed at the reaction to his death by some of the scandal-mongers. The sad thing is that they probably made a bunch of money from it.

    As for Shahlavi, a fitness guy killed too young by an undiagnosed heart condition… sometimes it feels like there’s no justice in the world, and this is one of those times. If anybody who knew him personally is reading this, my condolences.

  4. it blows my mind that a guy with a physique like that (I mean, criminy man, Ip Man 2 fer Pete’s sake) could die of heart disease. I mean, I understand it, but holy crap that’s a tragic occurrence. Just as his career seemed to be progressing nicely too.

    you could have told me that it was something way more unlikely and I would have believed you, choked to death on a mcnugget or something. Its a tragedy that a talented man like that was taken when he still had so much to give, I will always enjoy his work and miss his presence in what he now never make.

  5. I wish the circumstances were better, but it’s nice to see that you are apparently on certain action movie people’s map and considered important enough to get such messages into the world. Again, I wish would be better news.

    Man, shit like that makes me get cynical. You work out all day, live a super healthy lifestyle and then an unnoticed heart condition takes you.

  6. On the upside being fit feels really good and he clearly loved his work and earned some fiercely loyal friends.

    Better a good life cut tragically short than no kind of life at all.

  7. Knox Harrington

    May 1st, 2015 at 1:49 am

    I just love it when someone shames these gossip rags for all their bullshit.

    Good job, Mike Leeder. Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.

  8. Ace Mac Ashbrook

    May 2nd, 2015 at 12:53 am

    My Step Dad, who is much older than Shahlavi and no where near as ripped, but incredibly fit and healthy had a quadruple heart bypass last year. When we found out that three of his four valves were blocked up to 80% we couldn’t believe it. He was lucky that he got checked out and then operated on.

    Shahlavi would have been pushing himself to be in such great shape and sadly his heart would’ve given out on him without warning.

    A terrible shame made worse by tabloids making up lies to sell copy.

  9. What a sad reminder of the absolute pointlessness of the universe. His career did seem like it was just going to get bigger, and he played a great villain in Ip Man 2. I cannot imagine the type of shock this has been to his family. My condolences.

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