A week after being found unconscious in a Paris gym swimming pool, the star of the acclaimed French thriller dies of cardiac arrest following a medically-induced coma
Moroccan-French actress Nadia Farès, best known internationally for her role in the 2000 police thriller The Crimson Rivers, died Friday, April 17. She was 57. Her daughters confirmed cardiac arrest as the cause of death in a statement to Agence France-Presse.
On April 11, Farès was found unconscious in the swimming pool at the exclusive private sports complex Blanche in Paris. A fellow swimmer attempted to revive her by performing CPR before she was rushed to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital.
French media broke the news immediately:
“L’actrice Nadia Farès est dans un état de santé grave après avoir été retrouvée inanimée au fond d’une piscine à Paris ce samedi; elle a été transportée à l’hôpital et placée dans un coma artificiel.” — @media_express_e on X
She was placed in a medically-induced coma at the hospital, but suffered cardiac arrest on April 17 and did not survive. French newspaper Le Figaro reported that an investigation into the circumstances of her injuries has been opened, though authorities stated that “no offense has been identified at this stage.”
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Her daughters Cylia and Shana Chasman paid tribute in an emotional statement, saying: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of Nadia Farès this Friday. France has lost a great artist, but for us, it is above all a mother whom we have just lost.”
Cylia’s heartfelt Instagram tribute was shared by Le Parisien on X:
“«Maman. C’est un chagrin dont je ne me remettrai jamais» — Cylia Chasman, daughter of actress Nadia Farès, who died at 57 following an accident in a Paris swimming pool, shared a moving message on Instagram: ‘You were not only an amazing mom, but my best friend…'” — @le_Parisien on X
Born Dec. 20, 1968, in Marrakesh, Morocco, Farès grew up in Nice before relocating to Paris to pursue a career in film. She made her feature debut in 1992’s My Wife’s Girlfriends, but it was Mathieu Kassovitz’s The Crimson Rivers that earned her widespread recognition, starring opposite Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel in a film that became a landmark of European thriller cinema.
The French entertainment world mourned her loss across platforms. CANAL+ paid tribute to her full career on X:
“L’actrice Nadia Farès nous a quittés. Elle a débuté à la télévision dans un épisode de ‘Navarro’, au cinéma trois ans plus tard dans ‘Elles N’oublient Jamais’ de Christopher Frank. Dans les années 90, son visage s’installe sur le grand écran, sous la direction de Claude Lelouch et Alexandre Arcady…” — @canalplus on X
In 2007, Farès appeared in two international productions — action-thriller War and horror film Storm Warning. She stepped away from acting in 2009 following her marriage to Los Angeles-based producer Steve Chasman, before staging a comeback in 2016 with Netflix’s French drama series Marseille. Following their separation in 2022, she returned to France.
Farès had also been planning to make her directorial debut later this year.
