Actor Mike Batayeh died in his sleep from a heart attack at his Michigan home on June 1, a rep confirmed to E! News. He was 52. Batayeh's sister Diane told TMZ that his death was very sudden and that he didn't have a history of heart issues.
"He will be greatly missed by those who loved him," the family told the outlet June 9, "and his great ability to bring laughter and joy to so many."
Batayeh portrayed Dennis Markowski on "Breaking Bad." His character was the manager of Lavanderia Brillante laundromat, which was a front for the meth lab where Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) did their dealings.
E! News has reached out to the family as well but has not heard back.
Along with appearing on the hit AMC show for three episodes from 2011 to 2012, Mike had roles on "The Bernie Mac Show," "Boy Meets World" and "CSI: Miami." He was also a comedian, posting clips from his standup appearances on his Instagram two weeks prior to his death.
In addition, Batayeh appeared in several films, including "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and "Gas." In 2016, he spoke about his love of working on smaller films versus big budget ones.
"I like independent films more," he said in an interview with PBS while promoting his Indie movie Detroit Unleashed. "There is something about the shoestring budget and there is more comradery I think. The big budgets, people are separated more. You go in and out for a day player."
He added, "The experience for me is I've been on longer shoots for independents."
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Still, Batayeh enjoyed working on larger movies as well, including Adam Sandler's 2008 hit, "You Don't Mess with the Zohan."
"Big budgets are more fun," he continued. "It was a couple days I did on that but for me I prefer the independent."
