Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the actor maybe finest identified for starring within the TV sitcom “The Cosby Present” as son Theodore “Theo” Huxtable, has died at 54.
Warner drowned off the coast of Costa Rica on Sunday, Costa Rican Nationwide Police advised ABC Information. Warner’s official reason behind dying was asphyxia, police mentioned.
Warner died close to Cocles, a seashore in Limon, Costa Rica, police mentioned. Police mentioned he was caught by a excessive present within the water and was found Sunday afternoon.
Warner was formally recognized by Costa Rica’s nationwide police.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner speaks through the sixty fifth GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony at Microsoft Theater on Feb. 5, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Photos
Warner performed Theo Huxtable for all eight seasons of “The Cosby Present,” which ran from 1985-1992, receiving an Emmy nomination for the function.
Warner additionally starred with Eddie Griffin within the 1996-2000 sitcom “Malcolm & Eddie,” and as Dr. Alex Reed within the BET sitcom “Reed Between the Traces.” He additionally appeared in visitor roles on dozens of tv reveals over time.
Warner most not too long ago starred within the Fox medical drama “The Resident” for 5 of the present’s six seasons.
Born Aug. 18, 1970, Warner caught the performing bug early in life and attended and graduated from The Skilled Kids’s Faculty in New York Metropolis.
He made his first tv look in an episode of the TV sequence “Matt Houston” in 1982 and in addition appeared within the “Fame” tv sequence the next yr.
In 1984, he landed his function in “The Cosby Present” alongside Invoice Cosby, Phylicia Rashad, Lisa Bonet and extra.
In 2023, Warner appeared on “Dwell with Kelly and Mark” and shared how he obtained the function.
“When my agent submitted me, they had been in search of a 6-foot-2-inch 16-year-old,” he mentioned on the time. “As a result of it was a working joke — Mr. Cosby’s son on the time was 15 and was [6 feet, 2 inches tall].”
He mentioned that they weren’t capable of finding somebody with that standards, so his agent resubmitted him for the function and he auditioned.
“I used to be actually the final individual they noticed,” he mentioned.
The Cosby Present forged members, Tempestt Bledsoe, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Lisa Bonet, Phylicia Rashad, Keshia Knight Pulliam and Invoice Cosby.
Frank Carroll/NBCU Picture Financial institution by way of Getty Photos
The function earned Warner an Emmy nomination in 1986 for excellent supporting actor in a comedy sequence.
Warner spoke to Bevy Smith concerning the legacy of “The Cosby Present” in 2023, saying, “There is a era of us who went to varsity, they sought out increased schooling due to that present. There is a era of us that went and obtained married and had loving relationships with one another and their kids due to that present.”
He added, “That influence is irreversible.”
Following “The Cosby Present,” Warner continued to look in a number of tv sequence together with “The Michael J. Fox Present,” “Key & Peele,” “American Horror Story” and “Sons of Anarchy” in 2014, in addition to “Fits” and “American Crime Story” in 2016.
In 2011, he starred within the BET comedy sequence “Reed Between the Traces,” alongside Tracee Ellis Ross.
He additionally starred in a number of movies, together with “The Checklist” in 2007, “Idiot’s Gold” in 2008 and “Shot” in 2017.
In 2015, Warner earned a Grammy Award for finest conventional R&B efficiency alongside Robert Glasper Experiment and Lalah Hathaway for his or her cowl of Stevie Marvel’s “Jesus Kids of America.”
He told Questlove in 2023 that he was 26 when he began taking part in the bass as a pastime whereas engaged on “Malcolm and Eddie.”
He additionally spoke about taking part in the bass in a 2015 interview with ForBassPlayersOnly.com, saying, “I all the time say the bass selected me as a result of as a child, the bass was all the time factor factor that resonated with me.”
“I obtained my first document participant after I was 8 and the primary document I stole from my mother’s assortment was Grand Central Station,” he added. “So at 8 years previous, that is what would hit me.”
Warner additionally earned a Grammy nomination in 2023 for finest spoken phrase poetry album for “Hiding In Plain View.”
In June 2024, Warner began the podcast “Not All Hood” with Candace Kelly, the place they talked about psychological well being within the Black neighborhood and extra.
He told Individuals in Could 2024 that the podcast was an area for him to “be as weak as I enable myself to be.”
“So a lot of our Black pictures and a lot of our Black music reveals one facet of our Black tradition,” he mentioned. “We wish to make it possible for we are able to steadiness that out with the numerous different points of Black tradition on the market.”
In 2013, Warner advised the Archive of American Tv that his “proudest achievement” in life was “with the ability to have a post-Cosby life and post-Cosby profession and nonetheless have my head on as straight as doable.”
“I’ve had such an superior life,” he mentioned on the time. “I’ve obtained my ups and downs and all of that, but when I die tomorrow, I do know I might go together with a smile on my face.”
He added, “I’ve peace of thoughts and for me, you possibly can’t put a value on that. And I can positively say that I really feel profitable in my post-Cosby life and having a peace of thoughts.”
