Craig ‘Mums’ Grant, Poet and ‘Oz’ Actor, Dies at 53

Craig “Mums” Grant, the poet and actor who starred in six seasons of the HBO drama “Oz,” died on March 25. He was 53.

Grant’s representatives at Ellipsis Entertainment Group announced his passing Thursday morning. Grant was filming a recurring role on Starz’s “Hightown” series and was also working on Tyler Perry’s “All the Queen’s Men” series for BET’s streaming service, BET+.

“We are heartbroken over the loss of one of the most genuine, caring, loving souls we have ever had the pleasure of representing,” Ellipsis Entertainment said in a statement on Thursday. “Craig was more than our client, he was our dear friend. We all just lost a phenomenal man.”

Grant performed on “Oz” as muMs da Schemer, the moniker he also used when performing slam poetry. He played Arnold “Poet” Jackson during the entire run of “Oz,” from 1997 until the show’s final season in 2003. On “Oz,” Jackson was a heroin addict and aspiring artist who left Emerald City prison but returned after he killed a drug dealer.

In addition to his work on “Oz,” Grant guest starred on shows including “The Sopranos,” “Chapelle’s Show,” “Law & Order,” “Boston Legal,” “Blue Bloods,” “Nurse Jackie,” Marvel and Netflix’s “Luke Cage,” HBO’s “High Maintenance” and Jordan Peele’s TBS comedy “The Last O.G.” Grant also starred in “She’s Gotta Have It,” Netflix’s dramatic comedy that ran from 2017-19, as Cash Jackson.

Grant’s film credits include “Dark Water,” “Ball Don’t Lie” and “Breaking Point.”

Deadline first reported news of Grant’s death and noted that the actor had recently finished filming the movie “No Sudden Move” with director Steven Soderbergh and co-stars John Hamm, Benicio Del Toro and Don Cheadle.

Grant was born and raised in New York City. Prior to breaking into Hollywood, he had a prolific career as a spoken-word artist and poet. He competed at the National Poetry Slam competition in 1996, starred in a one-man show called “A Sucker Emcee” at the LAByrinth Theater Company and appeared on early seasons of HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” show. Grant was also featured in the 1998 documentary film “Slam Nation: The Sport of Spoken Word.”