Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Who Played Son Theo on 'The Cosby Show', Dies at 54 After Drowning on Family Trip
Malcolm-Jamal Warner has died at 54, PEOPLE confirms
According to a source, the actor was on a family trip
He was best known for playing Bill Cosby's son on The Cosby Show.Malcolm-Jamal Warner has died. He was 54.
The actor was in Costa Rica on a family vacation and drowned while swimming, a source confirms to PEOPLE.
A rep for Warner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Warner's career began with his role as Theo Huxtable on .
The actor played the only son of Bill Cosby's character, Heathcliff Huxtable, in the sitcom from 1984 to 1992.
In 2023, Warner told PEOPLE of the show, "I know I can speak for all the cast when I say The Cosby Show is something that we are all still very proud of."
"We share a unique experience that keeps us lovingly bonded no matter how much time goes between seeing or hearing from each other."
Warner did, of course, acknowledge how the show's legacy had changed given the allegations made against Cosby, 88, who was convicted of sexual assault in 2018 but later had the charge overturned in 2021, only for five more women to accuse him of sexual assault.
"Regardless of how some people may feel about the show now, I'm still proud of the legacy and having been a part of such an iconic show that had such a profound impact on — first and foremost, Black culture — but also American culture," Warner said.
Following , Warner went on to star in several other successful TV shows and movies.
He and Eddie Griffin led the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie from 1996 to 2000, and Warner was also well known for his role as Alex Reed on Reed Between the Lines, which he starred in alongside Tracee Ellis Ross from 2011 to 2015.
More recently, Warner had starred in Major Crimes as Chuck Cooper, as Julius Rowe in Suits and as AJ Austin in The Resident.
9-1-1 and Alert: Missing Persons Unit were his most recent credits.
His latest venture was a podcast, , that he launched with two others as a means of breaking down barriers to mental health in the Black community.
Last June, he launched the podcast with cohosts Weusi Baraka and Candace Kelley, and he told PEOPLE it was a space where he could be his 'most vulnerable.'
'It's been an interesting experience for me, because it's a place where I feel safe enough to be able to be as vulnerable as I allow myself to be,' he said.
'When we talk about the Black community, we tend to speak of it as a monolith when the reality is there are so many different facets of the Black community, and we wanted to have a space where we can really explore, discuss, and acknowledge all of those different aspects," he said at the time.
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Warner is survived by a wife and daughter, whose identities he opted to keep private.
Read the original article on People
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Being aware of the channel that it's on and what people want from it, but also I always try to keep things like, to what I would like to do with the role too, and try to keep it as grounded and as real for me as I possibly can, kind of thing, um, and I think I was very lucky of them allowing me to do that too, you know. Sullivan's Crossing. I mean, I even remember like when the show was announced and just seeing Chad Michael Murray and Scott Patterson on that poster, everyone was like, hold on a second, what is happening? What was it like to enter that world? But specifically when you had two people that you knew, everyone was going to be really excited about, like all over the world. It was very exciting. I think it equally hm, I think there was almost pressure in both ways. Like it almost took the pressure off because all of the focus was on those two, because everybody knew them and were excited about them. But then also there is the self pressure really of anything. 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Because I don't know. I, I love going to class, so I keep going to class as soon as I'm not working, and the work that I see in class and the people and the level, the skill, like it is so incredible. Like I know there's such incredible actors here, and yet so many of them aren't working or are nowhere close to the kinds of roles that they should be booking, and it can be so disheartening to see that too. And you're like, I see it, like literally in front of me, you are incredible, and yet. So yeah, I don't know. You still go to class even when you booked some roles too. Oh yeah, I love it. It's like, I don't know, I see it like the gym. You're never gonna be there. I will never, there's never a place to stop learning. And Sullivan's is wonderful, but it's one character, and I want to be able to expand and get better and fail miserably in class with characters I may never book. And so then when ones that are closer come, I have a little bit more experience and feel a little bit more flexible with it. And it just, like, it keeps the love alive too. I find going to class. Is there something that you have kind of like a bookmark in your brain that you're like, oh, I'd love to go into like this genre or do this thing, anything you have on your kind of bucket list. I love a good dramedy, like I'd love to try a little bit more in the comedy world, um. But I also love to do action. I'd love, like, uh, I love drama. I love the dark kind of shows that come up. I love fantasy. I like theres so much out there where I like, I don't have one specific thing, but I'm just excited about the possibility of everything.
