Broadway and Sitcom Actress Royana Black Dead at 47

Broadway and Sitcom Actress Royana Black Dead at 47
Actress Royana Black (R) in a file photo. (GoFundMe)

Royana Black, best known for her lead role in the CBS sitcom “Raising Miranda” has died after a long battle with leukemia, her family said. She was 47.

The family of the Broadway and sitcom actress recently shared the news of her death in Los Angeles on July 14 and also set up a GoFundMe fundraiser in support of Black’s husband of 11 years, actor John Paul Hubbell.

“We lost Royana Black Hubbell to acute myeloid leukemia very suddenly on July 14,” the page reads. “Royana’s incredible energy and spirit will be a part of our lives forever.”

“Royana had an infectious smile and laugh which could light even the darkest of days,” the family wrote on her obituary. “She was a beautiful person inside and out. She was truly an angel on earth.”

Black has been in the theater and television world since she was 1o years old. She played the role of “Laurie” in Neil Simon’s Broadway production “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” according to the obituary. She later continued to do “off-Broadway and regional theatre,” according to her website.

NTD Photo
Actress Royana Black (L) and her husband, actor J.P. Hubbell in a file photo. (GoFundMe)

Black also starred in the CBS sitcom “Raising Miranda.” During this time, she got her big break and moved for a period of time to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career.

“She quickly made the transition into television, first co-starring opposite Robert Klein in the ABC pilot “Father’s Day,” Black’s website stated. “By 15, she was starring as the title character in the CBS series ‘Raising Miranda,’ alongside Bryan Cranston and James Naughton.”

She also recorded many videos for the “Reading Rainbow,” according to her obituary, and worked with Paul Sovino in “Almost Partners,” “Stood Up,” and a “Woody Allen movie.”

Black owned the Alliance Repertory Company, a theater company where she was the artistic director, directing and performing original works.

Black was born and raised in New York in March 1973, where she attended elementary school at Robert R. Grave in Port Ewen and later studied at John A. Coleman Catholic High School in Hurley. She finished her studies in 1994 after graduating from Yale University in Connecticut.

She is survived by her husband, her mother Gloria Black, and her brother Robert J. Pereira Black.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia

According to the American Cancer Society, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) often progresses quickly if it’s not treated, making the treatment imperative.

It “starts in the bone marrow (the soft inner part of certain bones, where new blood cells are made), but most often it quickly moves into the blood, as well. It can sometimes spread to other parts of the body including the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), and testicles,” the society stated.

The organization also highlighted the connection to bone marrow.

“Bone marrow is the soft inner part of certain bones. It is made up of blood-forming cells, fat cells, and supporting tissues. A small fraction of the blood-forming cells are blood stem cells,” it stated.

“Inside the bone marrow, blood stem cells develop into new blood cells. During this process, the cells become either lymphocytes (a kind of white blood cell) or other blood-forming cells, which are types of myeloid cells. Myeloid cells can develop into red blood cells, white blood cells (other than lymphocytes), or platelets. These myeloid cells are the ones that are abnormal in AML.”

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