Warner died in a drowning accident in Costa Rica, where he was on vacation with his family, the source said.

Warner was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 1986 for his supporting work on The Cosby Show.

After the series concluded, Warner mentioned in a 2013 interview, “We were still successful enough to end on a high note, but we were eager to pursue our individual paths.”

“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.

Warner’s comments on Cosby’s misconduct allegations

When numerous accusations of sexual misconduct against Cosby emerged years later, Warner expressed his disappointment, stating it felt as though the show’s legacy had been “damaged.”

“My biggest concern is when it comes to images of people of color on television and film, no matter what … negative stereotypes of people of color, we’ve always had The Cosby Show to hold up against that,” Warner told The Associated Press in a 2015 interview.

“And the fact that we no longer have that, that’s the thing that saddens me the most because in a few generations the Huxtables will have been just a fairy tale.”

Cosby denied all the allegations. A 2018 sexual assault conviction against him was later overturned.

As much as he honoured playing Theo, Warner also worked hard to show how multifaceted he was, including being a Grammy-winning musician.

He won best traditional RnB performance in 2015 for the song “Jesus Children.” He was also nominated for a Grammy in 2023 for best spoken word poetry album.

Warner spoke with CNN in 2017 about his music and becoming a father.

“Being a new parent, I have a lot of new material for the music,” he said at the time. “It’s really awesome and right now, my daughter’s four months so I don’t have to tell her ‘no.'”

Warner continued working steadily in television throughout his career, with credits including Touched by an Angel, Community, Key and Peele, Suits, Sons of Anarchy and American Horror Story.

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” 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.