‘Carrie’ star Samantha Weinstein dies, aged 28

It has been announced that actress Samantha Weinstein has died, aged 28.

The actress was most widely recognised for her role in the 2013 remake of Stephen King’s Carrie, which starred Chloë Grace Moretz in the lead role. She passed away on May 14 at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, after being diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer.

After battling with the illness since 2021, her death was announced on her Instagram page by her family.

Sharing images of Weinstein peacefully floating against a celestial background, they wrote: “After two and a half years of cancer treatment, and a lifetime of jet setting around the world, voicing a plethora of cartoon animals, making music, and knowing more about life than most people ever will, she is off on her next adventure.”

In October last year, the Canadian actress married her partner Michael Knutson, and the two ventured on a belated honeymoon in Japan last month.

Launching her career as an actress in 2003, the child actor got her first television role on the Canadian series The Red Green Show. From there, she would go on to appear in series including The Winning Season (2004), Wild Card (2005), The Border (2008), Less Than Kind (2010), Alias Grace (2018) and Burden of Truth (2020).

She also starred in the Toni Collette-led film Jesus Henry Christ in 2011, and had a prolific career as a voice actor — starring in animated series Kingdom Force, Babar and the Adventures of Badou, Let’s Go Luna!, The ZhuZhus and Dino Ranch.

Her biggest role was in the 2013 Carrie remake, where Weinstein starred as high school bully Heather, who torments the title character and ultimately suffers the consequences while at prom.

“Sam was actually a living embodiment of a sunbeam,” said her father, David to The Canadian Press on Wednesday (May 24). “She was so full of positive energy, anyone who ever met her would say that she just lit up every room she walked into.”