Malcolm-Jamal Warner dies at 54

“The Cosby Show” actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner has died at the age of 54.

TMZ was among the first to report the actor’s death. Sources also confirmed his death to People magazine and Deadline.

Several media outlets, including People magazine, have reached out to his representatives for comment, but have not heard back.

CNN reported he was on vacation in Costa Rica and drowned while swimming.

Costa Rican National Police said Warner’s official cause of death was asphyxia, ABC News reported. He was near the beach Cocles in Limon and was caught by a high current in the water. His body was found Sunday afternoon and was formally identified by the country’s police.

Warner got his start acting at the age of 9, appearing on the television show “Fame.”

Warner played Theodore Huxtable, the only son of Bill Cosby’s Cliff Huxtable. Warner appeared on all 197 episodes of the show, which ran from 1984 to 1992, according to his IMDB profile. The role netted Warner an Emmy nomination in 1986 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

More than a decade ago, Warner sat down and spoke about the impact that “The Cosby Show” had during its run.

“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 in an interview. “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.”

He was also nominated for two Grammy Awards once in 2023 for the Best Spoken Word Poetry Album and in 2015 for Best Traditional R&B Performance for the song “Jesus Children, which he won.

After his run on “The Cosby Show,” Warner starred in “Malcolm & Eddie” and gave his voice as The Producer on “The Magic School Bus.”

Warner hosted the podcast “Not All Hood” with the latest episode being released three days ago, TMZ reported.

He wanted to speak about the experience of the Black community and representation in the media, CNN said of the podcast.

“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.

His last on-screen appearance was in three episodes of “Alert: Missing Persons Unit,” according to IMDB.

Warner leaves behind a wife and daughter, according to TMZ.

Check back for more on this breaking story.

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