The Cosby Show star Malcolm-Jamal Warner dies at 54 after drowning on family holiday

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the actor who played Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, has died aged 54 after drowning while swimming on a family holiday in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Department said Monday that Warner drowned Sunday afternoon on a beach on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.

He was swimming at Playa Cocles in Limon province when a current pulled him deeper into the ocean.

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“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 was best known by many for his role in The Cosby Show. 

He created many TV moments etched in the memories of Generation X children and their parents, including a pilot-episode argument with Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable about money and an ear piercing he tries to hide from his dad.

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Theo was the only son among four daughters in the household of Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad’s Clair Huxtable on the NBC 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 from 1984 to 1992.

He played the role for eight seasons in all 197 episodes, winning an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986.

For many the lasting image of the character, and of Warner, is of him wearing a badly botched mock designer shirt sewed by his sister Denise, played by Lisa Bonet.

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Warner later appeared on the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, co-starring with comedian Eddie Griffin in the series on the defunct UPN network from 1996 to 2000.

And in the 2010s he starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross as a family-blending couple for two seasons on the BET sitcom Read Between The Lines. He also had a role as O.J. Simpson's friend Al Cowlings on American Crime Story and was a series regular on Fox's The Resident.

His film roles include the 2008 rom-com Fool’s Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.

A poet and a musician, Warner was a Grammy winner, for best traditional R&B performance, and was nominated for best spoken word poetry album for Hiding in Plain View.

Warner was married with a daughter, but chose to not publicly disclose their names. Warner's representatives declined immediate comment.

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Title: The Cosby Show star Malcolm-Jamal Warner dies at 54 after drowning on family holiday
Sourced From: celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/malcolm-jamal-warner-cosby-show-actor-dies-at-54-in-costa-rica-drowning/4b4e784d-0a8d-407b-b054-fbe35e8e036a
Published Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2025 19:07:00 GMT