TV star of the 80s and 90s Malcolm Jamal Warner, best known for playing Theo Huxtable at the Cosby Show, passed away at the age of 54.
The actor was in Costa Rica on a family holiday and died while swimming, Costa Rica's national police told ABC News.
Officials said Warner's official cause of death was choking, which was caused when the body was deprived of oxygen. Police said he died near Playa Cocles, the beach in Limon, Costa Rica, and the actor was caught in high flow in the water, adding that his body was found Sunday afternoon.
“He was rescued by people on the beach,” the department's first report said, but the first responder from the Costa Rica Red Cross found him without vital signs and he was taken to the morgue.
Warner played Theo Huxtable in all eight seasons of the Cosby Show, which took place between 1984 and 1992. He was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards comedy series.
Warner's Theo is one of the four daughters in the family of Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad's Clair Huxtable, and he becomes one of the main expressions of American teenage boyhood at America's most popular shows.
Warner also starred Eddie Griffin in sitcom Malcolm & Eddy from 1996 to 2000, and starred as a couple who tied their families to the other side of Tracy Erithros for two seasons in sitcom Reed between Betsitcom Reed.
He appeared in the medical drama The Resident, five of the six seasons of the show.
Malcolm Jamal Warner in the “Operator Error” episode of “Resident.”
Fox Image Collection via Getty Images
Warner also played OJ Simpson's friend Al “AC” Cowlings in American Crime Stories: The People vs. OJ Simpson, directed by Ryan Murphy.
His film roles include the 2008 Rom Com Fool Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.
In 2015, Warner won his first Grammy Award for Robert Glasper's work on Jesus' children. He was also nominated for the Best Shaked Word Poetry Album in 2022, hiding in plain view.
His latest acting credits include 9-1-1 and Alert: Missing Persons Unit.
Many celebrities and fans joined social media to pay tribute to Warner after news of his death spread.
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Warner leaves behind a wife and daughter whose identity is unknown.
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– Includes files from Associated Press
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