Nadia Fares, the Morocco-born French actress who rose to international fame alongside Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel, died Friday after spending a week in a coma. She was 57. Her daughters confirmed the news in a statement to AFP, saying she had been found unconscious in the swimming pool of a gym in Paris on April 11.
The incident reportedly took place at a private club in the city's 9th arrondissement. No official cause of death has been disclosed, and it remains unclear whether any police or medical statement was issued. Fares never regained consciousness after being pulled from the water.
Her daughters, Cylia Chasman and Shana, released a statement through AFP that was both brief and direct:
"It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of Nadia Fares this Friday. France has lost a great artist, but for us, it is above all a mother we have just lost."
Fares broke through in 2000 with a starring role in Les Rivières pourpres, directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and based on the novel by Jean-Christophe Grangé. The French thriller paired her with Reno and Cassel and established her as one of the country's most recognizable screen presences.
She crossed into English-language film in 2007 with the action thriller War, appearing alongside Jason Statham and Jet Li. That same year, she attended the film's premiere at Cannes.
From 2016 to 2018, Fares starred as Vanessa d'Abrantes in Marseille, Netflix's first original French-language production. She appeared opposite Gerard Depardieu in the political drama, which ran for two seasons before its cancellation. At the time of her death, she had been due to begin shooting a new action-comedy in September. The title of that project has not been disclosed.
Sudden tragedies in the entertainment world have a way of stopping people cold, as seen in the recent medical emergency involving actress Catherine O'Hara. Fares' death carries that same jarring quality, a working actress with projects on the horizon, gone in a week.
Fares had spoken publicly about her health struggles. She revealed that she underwent brain surgery in 2007 to address an aneurysm she described as "far from small." She also disclosed that she had endured three heart operations over a span of four years.
Whether those prior conditions played any role in the swimming pool incident remains unknown. No medical details beyond the coma have been reported. The gap between what is known and what has been said publicly is wide, and no official body has stepped in to fill it.
Cylia Chasman, Fares' daughter with American film producer Steve Chasman, posted a lengthy tribute on Instagram. The message captured a family blindsided by loss, even as Fares had apparently spoken about death in her final days.
Chasman wrote:
"On Saturday we were on the phone and you told me you weren't afraid of death, and my response was that I was afraid of your death, and the next day the universe decided it was time for you. As much as it pains me it brings me some comfort knowing you weren't afraid. I know you tried your best to stay, I sat at the edge of your bed and begged and pleaded for you to stay and the universe took you anyway."
That detail, a phone call on Saturday, a catastrophe on Sunday, gives the timeline a sharp edge. Fares told her daughter she was not afraid. The next day she was found unconscious in a pool.
Sudden loss leaves families grasping for footing, a reality familiar to anyone who has followed the recent death of Missouri priest Father Larry Huber in a motorcycle crash. There is no preparing for it.
Chasman also thanked her mother for fighting:
"Thank you for fighting, thank you for giving me life, thank you for every memory, thank you for the laughs, for the cries. It pains me to say goodbye but mama I will make you so proud. I am so happy that we got even closer than we were before in your last few months. You understood me better than anyone and I don't know how I will recover. People always say I'm mini you and that's the best compliment."
She closed the post: "Rest so peacefully maman. Be my angel forever. I need it."
Fares' other daughter, Shana, posted a shorter message on her Instagram story. Le Parisien reported her words:
"I love you maman, I'll write my words when I'm ready. Please give me time."
The circumstances surrounding the April 11 incident remain largely opaque. The name of the gym or private club has not been publicly identified. No police statement has surfaced. No medical authority has commented on whether Fares suffered a cardiac event, a neurological episode, or something else entirely while in the water.
Her documented medical history, brain surgery, three heart operations, raises obvious questions. But without an official account, speculation serves no one. What is known is that a 57-year-old woman was found unconscious in a pool, spent a week in a coma, and died, leaving two daughters and an industry that had more work planned for her.
In moments like these, the public often watches families navigate grief in real time, sometimes under conditions that compound the pain, as NBC insiders recently highlighted during Savannah Guthrie's family crisis. Fares' daughters have asked, in their own ways, for space. That request deserves respect.
Nadia Fares leaves behind a body of work that stretched from French thrillers to Hollywood action films to one of Netflix's earliest international bets. She leaves behind two grieving daughters. And she leaves behind a set of unanswered questions that only the people who were there, and the authorities who should be speaking, can resolve.
When someone dies under circumstances this unclear, the public deserves facts, not silence. The family deserves them even more.
