Actor and director Stephen Amell was wildly excited to be on the Jimmy Kimmel show this week, describing it as a “dream come true.” But his big moment had an unexpected, sad accent as one of his old running buddies met an early demise. 42-year-old Darren Shahlavi, the martial artist who played Kano on TV’s Mortal Combat: Legacy and performed stunts on lots of popular films, was found dead of an overdose in his Los Angeles home on Jan 14.
Amell and Shahlavi acted (and fought) together on the CW Network’s DC Comics-inspired show Arrow.
RIP Darren Shahlavi. 1st guy I ever fought on Arrow. He was a great dude & a patient, thoughtful partner. Fight looked good because of him.
— Stephen Amell (@amellywood) January 20, 2015
