Moroccan-French actress Nadia Farès has died after being found unconscious in a swimming pool last week and remaining in a coma ever since.
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Her daughters confirmed to Agence France-Presse via Le Monde that she died of cardiac arrest on April 17. Farès was 57.
“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.
Farès’ breakout role was in the 2000 conspiracy thriller The Crimson Rivers. Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, she starred opposite Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel.
According to French newspaper Le Figaro, Farès was found unresponsive at the bottom of a pool at a private club in Paris on April 11. After witnesses alerted emergency services and performed CPR, firefighters treated her at the scene. She was then taken to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital and placed in an induced coma.
Le Figaro reported that an investigation into the cause of her injuries has been opened and that “no offense has been identified at this stage.” Authorities are reportedly reviewing CCTV footage from the sports complex.
Nadia Farès Was Candid About Previous Health Issues
Born on December 20, 1968, Farès grew up in Nice before moving to Paris to pursue acting. Her film debut was in the 1992 French comedy Les amies de ma femme (My Wife’s Girlfriends). Farès also appeared in the action movie War, alongside Jet Li and Jason Statham, and the horror film Storm Warning.
In 2009, she paused her acting career and moved to the U.S. after marrying American producer Steve Chasman. Farès returned to the screen in 2016 for the Netflix drama series Marseille. After separating from Chasman in 2022, she moved back to France.
According to Le Monde, Farès had previously been open about her health issues, revealing she underwent brain surgery in 2007 for an aneurysm. “A ticking time bomb that needed to be treated urgently. And in four years, I’ve had three heart surgeries,” she revealed previously.
Her daughter, Cylia Chasman, posted a moving tribute on social media, sharing several candid snapshots of Farès over the years.
“I know you fought your very hardest for your babies. Thank you. Thank you for fighting, thank you for giving me life, thank you for every memory, thank you for the laughs, for the cries,” she wrote in part alongside the photos.
“People always say I’m mini you, and that’s the best compliment,” she continued before adding, “You were so loved, and you were my role model.”
“Be my angel forever. I need it,” she concluded.