Lisa Spoonauer, the New Jersey actress who played the high school ex-girlfriend of counter jockey Dante (Brian O’Halloran) in writer/director Kevin Smith’s debut film Clerks, died this past weekend at her home in Jackson Township, New Jersey. No cause of death has been reported. She was 44.
Smith recruited Spoonauer for his film after he saw her in a community college acting class. In the film, she plays the ex-girlfriend of convenience store clerk Dante Hicks, whose reappearance in his life makes him question his relationship with his current girlfriend. Years later Smith would enthuse how her performance with co-star O’Halloran was some of his favorite work of his career.
Although some of her Clerks castmates parlayed their appearance in the film into acting careers, Spoonauer only had one other film appearance, in director Gabe Torres’s film Bartender. She did reteam with Smith to provide Caitlin’s voice for an episode of the short-lived Clerks animated series.
Spoonauer later left acting, moving on to work as a restaurant manager and an event planner.
The news was broken today by first her Clerks co-star O’Halloran and then Smith.
I'm truly gutted by this news. I've learned that on Saturday Lisa Spoonauer passed away. My deepest condolences and…
Posted by Brian O'Halloran on Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Devastated to report that #LisaSpoonauer, who played Caitlin in #clerks, has passed away. In 1992, I went looking for…
Posted by Kevin Smith on Tuesday, May 23, 2017
