Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Jessica Campbell, who starred in the 1999 dark comedy Election, has died, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Campbell, who was 38 years old, died on Dec. 29, 2020, as confirmed by her cousin, Sarah Wessling. The Election star’s cause of death is currently under investigation.
On a GoFundMe created in her cousin’s memory to help raise money for her 10-year-old son, Oliver, Wessling shared that Campbell “suddenly and unexpectedly passed away,” describing her death as an “unexpected and tragic turn of events.”
Wessling remembered Campbell as “A true adventurer in every sense of the word,” remembering how “Jessica packed a staggering amount of experiences into her tragically short lifetime. Listening to her talk, excitedly recounting her tales at a mile-a-minute, one could be forgiven for thinking ‘is this b*tch for real?’ But she was in fact for real and there was no one else like her. Traveling the world, acting, becoming a doctor, being Mom to the coolest kid ever; these bucket list items wove the quotidian fabric of her reality.
“Her passion for life and the people in it was astounding,” Wessling continued. “In addition to the impressive energy she poured into her own life, Jessica, on multiple occasions, dropped everything to travel across state lines and care for her loved ones in need. She was fun, she was loud, she was compassionate and loyal; no matter what she did, she was always uniquely Jessica.”
Campbell was best known for her role as Tammy Metzler in Election, which she starred in alongside Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Broderick and Chris Klein. Her part in the film earned Campbell multiple awards nominations, including recognition from the Independent Spirit Awards, Online Film & Television Association, and more. She went on to star in Freaks and Geeks and The Safety of Objects, but stepped out of the spotlight not long after, with her last IMDb credit listed as 2002’s Junk.
