Malcolm-Jamal Warner, a star of ’80s and ’90s television best-known for playing Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, has died at the age of 54.
The actor was in Costa Rica on a family vacation and drowned while swimming, Costa Rican National Police told ABC News.
Authorities said that Warner’s official cause of death was asphyxia, caused when the body is deprived of oxygen. He died near Playa Cocles, a beach in Limon, Costa Rica, according to police, adding that the actor was caught by a high current in the water and his body was found Sunday afternoon.
“He was rescued by people on the beach,” the department’s initial report said, but first responders from Costa Rica’s Red Cross found him without vital signs and he was taken to the morgue.
Warner played Theo Huxtable for all eight seasons of The Cosby Show, which ran from 1984 to 1992. He was nominated for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series at the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards for the role.
Warner’s Theo was the only son among four daughters in the household of Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad’s Clair Huxtable on the sitcom, and he would be one of the prime representations of American teenage boyhood on a show that was the most popular in America for much of its run.
Warner also starred with Eddie Griffin in the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie from 1996 to 2000, and he starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross as a family-blending couple for two seasons on the BET sitcom Reed Between the Lines.
He starred in the medical drama The Resident for five of the show’s six seasons.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner in the ‘Operator Error’ episode of ‘The Resident.’.
FOX Image Collection via Getty Images
Warner also played O.J. Simpson’s friend Al “A.C.” Cowlings in American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, directed by Ryan Murphy.
His film roles include the 2008 rom-com Fool’s Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.
In 2015, Warner won his first Grammy for his work on Robert Glasper’s Jesus Children. He was also nominated for best spoken word poetry album in 2022 for Hiding in Plain View.
His most recent acting credits include 9-1-1 and Alert: Missing Persons Unit.
Many celebrities and fans took to social media to pay tribute to Warner after news of his death spread.
A screenshot of Eddie Griffin’s Instagram Stories.
@EddieGriffin / Instagram
A screenshot of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Instagram Stories.
@JenniferLoveHewitt / Instagram
A screenshot of Vivica A Fox’s Instagram Stories.
@msvfox / Instagram
Warner leaves behind a wife and daughter, whose identities are not known.
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—With files from The Associated Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
