Jessie Cast Pays Tribute to Cameron Boyce During Virtual Reunion: He 'Was Just an Amazing Soul' (2024)

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Cameron Boyce died at age 20 after suffering a seizure in his sleep due to epilepsy

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Claudia Harmata

Claudia Harmata

Claudia Harmata is a former news writer/reporter at PEOPLE. She left PEOPLE in 2021.

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Published on April 12, 2020 07:00PM EDT

The Jessie cast will always remember Cameron Boyce in their hearts.

During a virtual reunion recorded for the Stars in the House YouTube series, hosted by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, the cast of the hit Disney Channel series shared some of their favorite memories with their late costar, who died in July 2019 at age 20 after suffering a seizure in his sleep due to epilepsy.

Boyce starred as Luke Ross on the show, portraying one of the four Ross siblings opposite Skai Jackson, Peyton List and Karan Brar.

Jackson, who played Luke’s youngest sibling Zuri, recalled the day she first met Boyce at an audition for Jessie, remembering how “sweet and loving” he was towards her.

“I remember a week before I met him, I saw him on Dancing With the Stars and I was just thinking, ‘This boy is just so talented. He’s just so good,’ ” Jackson, 18, said. “Then during the audition for Jessie, the second time that I went in California, I saw him and I was so excited to meet him and we just got to talking and he just treated me like one of his own just right away.”

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Brar, 21, also recalled bonding with Boyce during breaks between scenes, telling the hosts that, being so similar in age, he and Boyce felt they had a similar experience going through the show.

“We were always like two peas in a pod,” he said. “So we were always just hanging out together. I guess just spending time in our dressing room together and just talking about what we wanted to do in the future and I guess just figuring life out together. We were so close in age that we were both kinda just going through the same experiences and helping each other figure it out.”

Similarly, List, 22, remembered how she and Boyce were tutored together on set and often spent “every moment together.”

“Cameron was just an amazing soul and person… he made me such a better person. He was younger than me and he would teach me something every day,” she said. “He really is an old soul and he taught me so much.”

Jessie Cast Pays Tribute to Cameron Boyce During Virtual Reunion: He 'Was Just an Amazing Soul' (2)

Meanwhile, Debby Ryan, who portrayed the show’s titular character Jessie Prescott, recalled how Boyce comforted her when her mother was battling breast cancer during the third season of the show.

“We weren’t really vocal about it, so I would like go to chemo with her after work and then I would come back…sometimes people would be like, ‘Tired, late night?’ like making jokes, whatever and I would just be like kind of fragile but never shared about it,” Ryan, 26, recalled.

“[Boyce] had this sense and was aware, and I remember he would just pursue to come and give me hugs. I remember one time starting to cry and being like, ‘You are like my younger brother,’ ” she continued. “He sort of had this like maturity and this comforting — and it was like a two-way street for the first time in a really cool way. I just will never forget that. He was really special.”

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The Insatiable actress also praised Boyce for his many talents outside of acting, which included singing and dancing.

“He could be casually like making a sandwich and would just sing and you’d be blown away and he would just be joking and doing a bit and dance and you’d be like, ‘How do you have that control of your body?'” she said. “Vocally and tonally he could just make everything funnier because he was deeply skilled at the things.”

Kevin Chamberlin, who played the Ross family butler Bertram Winkle, echoed Ryan’s comments, calling Boyce “an amazing dancer.”

“There was always a surprise when they worked his dancing into the show,” Chamberlin said. “He would come with his crew, he had these three guys or four guys, and they would like, krump and do breakdancing stuff and it was really cool and he would have to do take over take.”

The Broadway actor said that the show’s creator Pamela Eells even texted him prior to the virtual reunion to make sure he mentioned how “every time they did so many takes and [Boyce] would never get winded.”

“They would constantly do these takes and was always spot-on. He was always at a 10,” Chamberlin said, before adding, “He was really one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet and just a beautiful soul. An old soul.”

Jessie Cast Pays Tribute to Cameron Boyce During Virtual Reunion: He 'Was Just an Amazing Soul' (2024)

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