The 48-year-old stage actor and former cast member of the serial opera All My Children, Jeffrey Carlson, went suddenly.

Adam Feldman, the theater editor for Time Out New York, was the first to post the heartbreaking news on Twitter with the message, "RIP Jeffrey Carlson, 48, exposed-nerve star of Broadway (Billy in The Goat, Marilyn in Taboo) and TV (the revolutionary trans role Zoe on All My Children). An outstanding performer and a terrible loss.

"STC is saddened to learn of the recent passing of Jeffrey Carlson," the Shakespeare Theatre Company wrote in a memorial to the late actor posted on its Facebook page. Fortunately for us, Jeffrey's career carried him from television and movies to Broadway and STC, where he offered stunning and nuanced performances.We extend our deepest sympathies to Jeffrey's closest friends, family, and coworkers.

Romeo and Juliet (2016), Lorenzaccio (2005), Hamlet (2007), and the Shakespeare Theatre Company performances of Free For All from 2008 and 2017 are just a few of the plays in which Carlson appeared as an actor.

It wasn't immediately known what caused his death, whether he had survivors, or whether there would be a memorial service.

Mark Harris, a writer, tweeted "This is truly sad" after learning of Carlson's demise. Anyone who had the good fortune to see Jeffrey Carlson in the early 2000s or in the regional work that followed knew they were watching not only a superb actor, but an honest and original one. He blazed through NYC theater during that time. RIP."

After Carlson passed away, a lot of friends and admirers expressed their sympathy and paid him tribute online, showing that he had a big impact on a lot of people.

Carlson had a long and successful acting career, but his portrayal of Zoe on All My Children is perhaps the one for which he is most remembered. As a character known as Zarf, he debuted on the program in 2006. The protagonist eventually reveals that they are transgender women and adopts the name Zoe.

Uncertainty surrounds Zoe's status as the first transgender person on daytime television, although she was certainly the first openly transgender woman and the first representation of a male to female transition.

I worry about missing anything, but I assume it would be the same with any character, Carlson said of the pressure he felt when playing Zoe in an interview that was conducted when he was on All My Children for Today.com. I would like the viewers of All My Children to join me. Not because it would be shocking. It's simply another individual whose life story is being told in Pine Valley.

The movies Hitch, Backseat, and The Killing Floor all featured Carlson in addition to his work on All My Children. His attention was drawn to stage and theatrical works after his stint on the soap opera.