Laurel Griggs, who found early acting success in the 2013 Broadway revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and the musical adaptation of the Irish film “Once,” died on Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 13.

Ms. Griggs’s death was confirmed on Sunday by her grandfather David Rivlin, who said she had had a “massive asthma attack.”

“Laurel was a child that everybody would dream to have,” Mr. Rivlin said. “She was a brilliant girl, could run a role and never forget a line, and I never heard a complaint.”

Emergency responders were flagged down about 7:25 p.m. on Tuesday outside an East Harlem residence to help a girl who was having difficulty breathing on the front steps of the building, the New York Police Department said.