Moroccan French actress Nadia Farès, who last week was found unconscious in a swimming pool and has been in a coma ever since, died yesterday at the age of 57.
Her daughters confirmed her death, caused by cardiac arrest, in a statement to Agence France-Presse.
“It is with immense sadness that we announce the death this Friday of Nadia Farès. France has lost a great artist, but for us, it is above all a mother that we have just lost,” Cylia and Shana Chasman wrote.
The Marrakesh-born actress is best known for her breakout role in 2000’s The Crimson Rivers, the acclaimed Mathieu Kassovitz-directed conspiracy thriller in which she starred opposite Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel.
Born Dec. 20, 1968, Farès grew up in Nice before moving to Paris to pursue a career in film. Her first movie role came in 1992’s Les amies de ma femme (My Wife’s Girlfriends). Her other credits include action flick War (with Jet Li and Jason Statham) and horror movie Storm Warning.
In 2009, she stepped away from her career and moved to the U.S. after marrying American producer Steve Chasman. She returned to acting in 2016 with Netflix’s drama series Marseille. She and Chasman separate in 2022, whereupon she moved back to France.
Per Le Monde, Farès was gearing up to shoot her first feature film as a screenwriter and director this September. “Through hard work, questioning myself and persistence, I found a great team, we are working together on an action comedy with Studio TF1,” she told French celeb and women’s magazine Gala in an interview published in January.
She had been open about prior health issues, revealing she underwent brain surgery in 2007 due to a “far from small” aneurysm. “A ticking time bomb that needed to be treated urgently. And in four years, I’ve had three heart surgeries,” she said previously.
According to French newspaper of record Le Figaro, Farès had been found unresponsive at the bottom of a pool at a private club on Rue Blanche in the 9th arrondissement April 11. Witnesses came to her aid, alerted emergency services and performed CPR. She was then treated by firefighters and transported to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she was placed in an induced coma.
Le Figaro reported that an investigation has been opened into the cause of her injuries and that “no offense has been identified at this stage.” According to another outlet, Midi Libre, CCTV footage from the sports complex is being reviewed by authorities.
Cylia Chasman posted a moving tribute to her mother on social media, which you can view below:
