Irish actor Ray Stevenson, who had roles in RRR, Thor and Rome, has died at the age of 58.

Stevenson died on Sunday in Italy, according to his representatives, but the circumstances surrounding his death are not clear.

He was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, in 1964, but spent some of his upbringing in England, where he attended Bristol Old Vic Theatre School before he began appearing in TV shows in the 1990s and then in Hollywood films.

His first major film role was in Antoine Fuqua’s 2004 adventure movie King Arthur, when he played Dagonet, one of the Knights of the Round Table.

It was the role in Rome that got his career going in the US at the age of 44, taking the role of Titus Pullo, a member of the 13th Legion in the HBO series.

In a later interview, he described it as “one of the major years of my life”, adding: “It made me sit down in my own skin and say: ‘Just do the job, the job’s enough’.”

In 2008, he played the lead in the pre-Disney adaptation Punisher: War Zone and later he was Volstagg in the first three Thor films and the villainous governor Scott Buxton in RRR.

Other prominent film roles included the Divergent trilogy, GI Joe: Retaliation and The Transporter: Refuelled.

Stevenson did voice work in Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars, as Gar Saxon.

He also has a role in the upcoming Star Wars live-action series Ahsoka, in which he plays villain Baylan Skoll. The eight-episode season is expected on Disney+ in August.

Stevenson has three sons with Italian anthropologist Elisabetta Caraccia, who he met while working on Rome.