Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor who starred as Theo in ‘The Cosby Show,' dead at 54

CTV News

4 days ago

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, an actor and artist who rose to fame as a child as Theodore Huxtable on 'The Cosby Show,' has died, according to a source close to the actor.
He was 54.
Warner died in a drowning accident in Costa Rica, where he was on vacation with his family, the source said.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Warner for further information.
A native of New Jersey, Warner started acting at age 9, making appearances in shows like 'Fame.' He was a young teen when he was cast as the only son of Bill Cosby's character, Heathcliff Huxtable, in 'The Cosby Show,' which ran from 1984 to 1992.
Warner later reflected on the legacy of the popular, Emmy-winning sitcom.
'The fact that the Cosby Show for Black America and White America alike finally legitimized the Black middle class, which has always been around since the inception of this country but, as with everything, is not legitimate til it's on television,' Warner said. 'When the show first came out, there were White people and Black people talking about (how) the Huxtables don't really exist, Black people don't really live like that. Meanwhile, we were getting tens of thousands of fan letters from people saying, thank you so much for this show.'
Warner was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 1986 for his supporting work on 'The Cosby Show.'
By the time the show was over, Warner said in a 2013 interview, 'we were still on top enough to go out on top, but we were ready to live our own lives.'
'We were all ready to move on and as Mr. Cosby said, by that point, we had pretty much said all that we could say,' Warner added.
After the perennial hit series ended in 1992, the actor continued working primarily in television until recently, with credits including 'Touched by an Angel,' 'Community,' 'Key and Peele,' 'Suits,' 'Sons of Anarchy' and 'American Horror Story.'
As much as he honored the Theo character, Warner also worked hard to show how multifaceted he was, including being a Grammy-winning musician.
He won best traditional R&B performance in 2015 for the song 'Jesus Children.' He was also nominated for a Grammy in 2023 for best spoken word poetry album.
Warner also starred opposite Eddie Griffin in the series 'Malcolm & Eddie' for four seasons between 1996 and 2000.
His more recent acting credits include 'The Resident,' 'The Wonder Years' reboot, 'Grownish' and '9-1-1.'
Last year, Warner launched his podcast 'Not All Hood' last year with the goal of continuing to be a voice that explores the diverse experiences of the Black community and touch on themes of representation in media.
'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 told People magazine in an interview last year.
This story is developing and will be updated.
By Elizabeth Wagmeister.