Malcolm-Jamal Warner, known for his role as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, has died. He was 54.
Warner starred in the beloved family sitcom from 1984 to 1992, and went on to headline Malcolm & Eddie with comedian Eddie Griffin from 1996 to 2000. More recently, he appeared in Sons of Anarchy, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story and The Resident.
ABC News reports that Warner drowned during a family vacation in Costa Rica on Sunday, according to Costa Rican National Police.
His official cause of death was asphyxia, after he was caught by a strong current while swimming off Cocles, a beach in Limon, on the country’s Atlantic coast. A representative for Warner confirmed the news to The Independent.
In a post on Instagram, Griffin paid tribute to Warner as “my big little brother.”
Warner was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on August 18, 1970. He pursued acting from a young age and graduated from New York’s Professional Children's School.
At the age of 13 he auditioned for the role of Theo, the only son of Bill Cosby’s Heathcliff Huxtable, on the final day of a nationwide search. He was chosen for the part by Cosby himself.
Earlier this year, he reflected on the difficulty of always being associated with his breakout role on the Hot & Bothered with Melyssa Ford podcast.
Per Yahoo, he said his wife, who he never publicly named for privacy reasons, “got on him” for trying to “distance himself from Theo, as if Theo was a bad thing.”
He continued: “I’ve always wanted it to be separate... and there’s this narrative that I hate being called Theo...”, before admitting that this was true and he disliked being asked to sign autographs as “Theo.”
He added: “I’m always gonna be Malcolm much longer than Theo. Although to some people I’ll be Theo forever, and I can’t help that.”
During his time on The Cosby Show, Warner became a well-known public figure and made regular guest appearances elsewhere. He hosted Saturday Night Live in 1986, at the age of 16, and also appeared in Sesame Street and in several television specials.
Warner reprised the role of Theo in the spin-off series A Different World, which ran from 1988 to 1989.
Until 1994 Warner was in a relationship with his Cosby Show co-star Michelle Thomas, who played his onscreen girlfriend Justine. The pair remained close and he was at her bedside when she died from a rare form of cancer in 1998 at the age of 30.
More recently, Warner has made appearances on comedies including Community and Key & Peele, and starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross in the 2011 sitcom Reed Between the Lines. From 2018 to 2023 he starred in the Fox medical drama The Resident.
Warner was also a musician and performance poet who released his debut album, The Miles Long Mixtape, in 2003. In 2015 “Jesus Children”, his collaboration with Robert Glasper and Lalah Hathaway, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance.
His final screen credits came in four episodes of the procedural 9-1-1 last year.
Warner is survived by his wife and daughter.
Tom Troupe death: Star Trek and Cheers actor dies aged 97
Adam Sandler reveals sad reason why Happy Gilmore 2 had to be rewritten
Robin Williams reportedly wanted to buy a comedy club to impress David Bowie
Caitlyn Jenner’s manager Sophia Hutchins’ cause of death revealed after wreck
Poet and artist Andrea Gibson dies aged 49 four years after cancer diagnosis
90210 star Ian Ziering breaks silence on Shannen Doherty’s death one year later
