Prison Break & Chicago Fire Actress, DuShon Monique Brown, Dies at 49

Sensational actress, Dushon Monique Brown sadly met her demise on March 23 aged just 49.

The actress was renown for her forays into a couple of homestay TV shows. She sadly met her demise right after she made complains about pains in her chest. According to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, the actress died at 12 p.m. while at the St James Olympia Field Hospital.

DuShon started her entertainment career in 2003

The coroner performed an autopsy to establish the cause of death. However, no further details have been released to the public on the true cause of her death. One of her representatives, Robert Schroeder, divulged details about her untimely death by sharing that she died from natural causes.

Numerous people who related to her on a daily basis eulogized her. One of them was Dick Wolf, an executive producer for Chicago Fire who expressed the devastation her demise left the entire Chicago Fire community. He wished DuShon’s family all the best during their grieving period.

The news of her sudden demise was first let out of the bag through an email sent by Gregory Jones, a principal at Kenwood Academy High School, where Brown once worked as a counselor. While at the school, she was the chief crisis counselor and in charge of the Drama Starz Program. After news of her death broke out, news about her demise spread like wildfire to numerous other news media.

Missed

According to insiders, DuShon went by her moniker Connie, which was her stage name whilst cast on NBC’s ‘Chicago Fire’. Whilst with members, she was known for her charismatic nature and jovial mood during production and off production hours. Many who knew her during her stay with the show expressed their condolences and celebrated her life.

DuShon had a far-reaching background in theater according to those close to her. She managed to traverse numerous theater stages during her acting career like the Goodman, Drury Lane, MPAACT, Victory Gardens, Lookingglass, and Pegasus Players.

Dushon was a lady of many talents, her IMDB page reveals that she was a seasoned violinist who playedwith the Illinois Symphony Orchestra at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana

One of her close friends, Carla Stillwell, a theatre actress in the city, said that the two met right after college in the ‘90s. She remembers her as a goofy character who would always land in trouble with stage managers. Simply put, she was a lovable person who found joy in all the little intricacies of life.

‘Whilst acting on NBC’s Chicago Fire, many related with her stern-faced delight and calming sway among her cohorts who were troublemakers. In her penultimate episode, she famously picked up a piece of fax paper that was non-work related and handed it over to the gang with a well-punctuated lengthy, scornful look that told a lot about the tale. She was famed by just how much emotion she could express through her look. This was one of the things that the show’s writers and producers loved about her and made sure to incorporate this strength of hers all through their script.

Persona

DuShon Brown also worked in several movies including The Dilemma, One Small Hitch, Surprise Me!, and Unexpected

DuShon was born and bred in Chicago. More specifically, she was raised on the South Side. Her persona was a lively one and was perhaps best exemplified when a reporter, Andrew Cristi, having noted her degree in counseling and background in social work enquired how she would feel if Chicago Fire produced a spin-off series called Chicago-Ed or Chicago Shelter. Immediately, she jumped upon the question and replied in the affirmative that she would definitely love to be part of such a production, both as an actor and a consultant. That was her spirit.

She had divulged that during auditions for the role, her character initially didn’t have a name. She was a Secretary given a one-liner role. However, she managed to embrace the role so much that she found herself in repeat editions of the show.

Before hitting the theatre stages, she studied at Whitney Young High School and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her degree while studying at Governors State University.

Other than Chicago Fire, the actress previously made appearances in numerous other TV shows. Most famously, as infirmary nurse Katie Welch on 13 episodes on Prison Break between 2005 and 2007. She also guest-starred on Empire and Shameless. Indeed, she lived a full life.