Imani Dia Smith — a former child actor who starred in “The Lion King” on Broadway — has died.
According to a press release issued by Middlesex County, New Jersey, prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Edison Police Department chief Thomas Bryan, Smith was found Sunday in a residence in Edison, N.J. with stab wounds. She was reportedly pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
The press release says Smith’s boyfriend, Jordan D. Jackson-Small, was arrested and charged in connection with the stabbing death.
Small, 35, was reportedly charged with first-degree murder, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.
According to Playbill, Smith played Young Nala in “The Lion King” from September 27, 2011, to September 23, 2012.
According to a GoFundMe set up for the family, Smith is survived by a 3-year-old son.
She was 26.
RIP
