Moroccan French actress Nadia Farès has died at the age of 57 after being found unconscious in a swimming pool in Paris last week. Her daughters, Cylia and Shana Chasman, confirmed that she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Friday.
In a statement to Agence France-Presse, her daughters said: “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.”
Born in Marrakesh on 20 December 1968, Farès grew up in Nice before moving to Paris to pursue acting. She made her film debut in 1992 and is best known for her role in the 2000 thriller The Crimson Rivers, opposite Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel. Her other credits include the action film War and the horror movie Storm Warning.
Farès stepped away from her career in 2009 after marrying American producer Steve Chasman and moving to the United States. She returned to acting in 2016 with the Netflix drama Marseille. The couple separated in 2022, and she moved back to France. She had been preparing to direct her first feature film, an action comedy, this September.
She had previously revealed health struggles, including brain surgery in 2007 and three heart operations. On 11 April, she was found unresponsive at the bottom of a pool at a private club in the 9th arrondissement. Witnesses performed CPR, and she was taken to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she was placed in an induced coma. An investigation has been opened, and CCTV footage is being reviewed.
