Malcolm-Jamal Warner, former ‘Cosby Show’ star, dead at 54

Malcolm-Jamal Warner has died. He was 54.

The actor was in Costa Rica on a family vacation and drowned while swimming, a source confirms to PEOPLE.

A rep for Warner did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Warner’s career began with his role as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show.

The actor played the only son of Bill Cosby’s character, Heathcliff Huxtable, in the sitcom from 1984 to 1992.

In 2023, Warner told PEOPLE of the show, “I know I can speak for all the cast when I say The Cosby Show is something that we are all still very proud of.”

“We share a unique experience that keeps us lovingly bonded no matter how much time goes between seeing or hearing from each other.”

Warner did, of course, acknowledge how the show’s legacy had changed given the allegations made against Cosby, 88, who was convicted of sexual assault in 2018 but later had the charge overturned in 2021, only for five more women to accuse him of sexual assault.

“Regardless of how some people may feel about the show now, I’m still proud of the legacy and having been a part of such an iconic show that had such a profound impact on — first and foremost, Black culture — but also American culture,” Warner said.

Following The Cosby Show, Warner went on to star in several other successful TV shows and movies.

He and Eddie Griffin led the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie from 1996 to 2000, and Warner was also well known for his role as Alex Reed on Reed Between the Lines, which he starred in alongside Tracee Ellis Ross from 2011 to 2015.

More recently, Warner had starred in Major Crimes as Chuck Cooper, as Julius Rowe in Suits and as AJ Austin in The Resident.

His latest venture was a podcast, Not All Hood, that he launched with two others as a means of breaking down barriers to mental health in the Black community.

Last June, he launched the podcast with cohosts Weusi Baraka and Candace Kelley, and he told PEOPLE it was a space where he could be his “most vulnerable.”

“It’s been an interesting experience for me, because it’s a place where I feel safe enough to be able to be as vulnerable as I allow myself to be,” he said.

“When we talk about the Black community, we tend to speak of it as a monolith when the reality is there are so many different facets of the Black community, and we wanted to have a space where we can really explore, discuss, and acknowledge all of those different aspects,” he said at the time.

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Warner is survived by a wife and daughter, whose identities he opted to keep private.