Taraja Ramsess, Stunt Performer in Marvel Films, Dies at 41

Taraja Ramsess, a stunt performer and set dresser with credits including Fast & Furious, Avengers and Black Panther movies, died on Halloween in a car crash in Atlanta that also claimed the lives of three of his children. He was 41.

Ramsess died shortly before midnight after the vehicle in which he and his kids were traveling hit a tractor trailer that had broken down in the left lane of an exit off Interstate 20, Atlanta station WSB-TV reported.

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His mother, Akili Ramsess, executive director of the National Press Photographers Association, announced his death and that of his daughters Sundari, 13, and Fujibo, 8 weeks, in an Instagram post on Thursday. On Saturday, she wrote that his son, Kisasi, 10, also injured, died after being on life support.

Another daughter, Shazia, 3, survived the crash, as did an unidentified 15-year-old female.

Director Ava DuVernay, who worked with Ramsess at her distribution company ARRAY, described him as “regal” on Instagram. “That’s the word that comes to mind when I think of him,” she wrote. “He walked like a king. And to me, always acted like one.”

Ramsess started out as a set dresser, working on such films as Due Date (2010), Fast Five (2011), Lawless (2011), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) and Furious 7 (2015), as well as TV shows including The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead and Constantine.

He began doing stunt work about a decade ago, with credits including Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), What Men Want (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Suicide Squad (2021), Black Adam (2022) and They Cloned Tyrone (2023).

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with expenses.

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