Warner died by drowning off the coast of Costa Rica, according to local police who spoke with ABC News.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, best known for his role as Theodore “Theo” Huxtable on the iconic TV sitcom The Cosby Show, has died at the age of 54.
According to Costa Rica’s National Police, Warner drowned off the coast of Costa Rica on Sunday. His official cause of death was listed as asphyxia.
The incident occurred near Cocles Beach in the Limon province, where Warner was caught in a rip current Sunday afternoon. Witnesses pulled him from the water and brought him to shore, where emergency responders provided medical aid. However, he was pronounced dead by the Costa Rican Red Cross.
Authorities formally identified Warner as a tourist, the National Police confirmed.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner speaks during the 65th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony at Microsoft Theater on Feb. 5, 2023 in Los Angeles.
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner portrayed Theo Huxtable throughout all eight seasons of The Cosby Show, which aired from 1985 to 1992. His performance earned him an Emmy nomination.
Following that success, Warner co-starred with Eddie Griffin in the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, which ran from 1996 to 2000. He also played Dr. Alex Reed in BET’s Reed Between the Lines and made guest appearances on numerous television series over the years.
More recently, Warner starred in the Fox medical drama The Resident, appearing in five of the show’s six seasons.
Born on August 18, 1970, Warner developed a passion for acting early on and graduated from The Professional Children’s School in New York City. His television debut came in 1982 with an appearance on Matt Houston, followed by a role in the Fame TV series the next year.
In 1984, Warner landed the breakthrough role of Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, joining a cast that included Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashad, and Lisa Bonet.
In a 2023 interview on Live with Kelly and Mark, Warner reflected on how he got the role. “When my agent submitted me, they were looking for a 6-foot-2-inch 16-year-old,” he said, referencing a running joke about Bill Cosby’s own son, who fit that description at the time.
When casting couldn’t find anyone matching those criteria, Warner’s agent submitted him again. He was called in and auditioned.
“I was literally the last person they saw,” Warner recalled.
The Cosby Show cast members, Tempestt Bledsoe, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Lisa Bonet, Phylicia Rashad, Keshia Knight Pulliam and Bill Cosby.
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The role earned Warner an Emmy nomination in 1986 for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series.
Warner spoke to Bevy Smith about the legacy of “The Cosby Show” in 2023, saying, “There’s a generation of us who went to college, they sought out higher education because of that show. There’s a generation of us that went and got married and had loving relationships with each other and their children because of that show.”
He added, “That impact is irreversible.”
Following “The Cosby Show,” Warner continued to appear in several television series including “The Michael J. Fox Show,” “Key & Peele,” “American Horror Story” and “Sons of Anarchy” in 2014, as well as “Suits” and “American Crime Story” in 2016.
In 2011, he starred in the BET comedy series “Reed Between the Lines,” alongside Tracee Ellis Ross.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner On The Legacy of ‘The Cosby Show
He also starred in several films, including “The List” in 2007, “Fool’s Gold” in 2008 and “Shot” in 2017.
In 2015, Warner earned a Grammy Award for best traditional R&B performance alongside Robert Glasper Experiment and Lalah Hathaway for their cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America.”
He told Questlove in 2023 that he was 26 when he started playing the bass as a hobby while working on “Malcolm and Eddie.”He also spoke about playing the bass in a 2015 interview with ForBassPlayersOnly.com, saying, “I always say the bass chose me because as a kid, the bass was always thing thing that resonated with me.”
“I got my first record player when I was 8 and the first record I stole from my mom’s collection was Grand Central Station,” he added. “So at 8 years old, that’s what would hit me.”
Warner also earned a Grammy nomination in 2023 for best spoken word poetry album for “Hiding In Plain View.”
In June 2024, Warner started the podcast “Not All Hood” with Candace Kelly, where they talked about mental health in the Black community and more.
He told People in May 2024 that the podcast was a space for him to “be as vulnerable as I allow myself to be.”
“So many of our Black images and so much of our Black music shows one side of our Black culture,” he said. “We want to make sure that we can balance that out with the many other aspects of Black culture out there.”
In 2013, Warner told the Archive of American Television that his “proudest achievement” in life was “being able to have a post-Cosby life and post-Cosby career and still have my head on as straight as possible.”
“I’ve had such an awesome life,” he said at the time. “I’ve got my ups and downs and all of that, but if I die tomorrow, I know I would go with a smile on my face.”
He added, “I have peace of mind and for me, you can’t put a price on that. And I can definitely say that I feel successful in my post-Cosby life and having a peace of mind.”
