French actress Nadia Farès has died at the age of 57 following a swimming pool accident in Paris. She was found unresponsive at the bottom of a pool on April 11, 2026 and later succumbed to her injuries after several days in a coma at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. Her passing was confirmed by her daughters in a statement to AFP.
Born on December 20, 1968, in Marrakech, Morocco, Farès began her career in television before transitioning to film. She made her cinematic debut in 1992 with My Wife’s Girlfriends and gained widespread recognition for her role as Fanny Ferreira in Mathieu Kassovitz’s 2000 thriller The Crimson Rivers, where she starred alongside Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel. The film marked a turning point in her career and remains one of her most notable performances.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Farès worked with prominent French directors including Claude Lelouch, Alexandre Arcady, and Bernie Bonvoisin. She appeared in films such as Hommes, femmes : mode d’emploi (1996), Les Démons de Jésus (1997), and Pour le plaisir (2004). Her international profile grew with roles in the 2007 action film War, where she played Jade Agent Kinler, and the horror film Storm Warning the same year.
Initial medical assessments indicated that a possible cardiac event may have led to her losing consciousness while swimming. An investigation was launched to determine the exact circumstances of the incident, though no further details have been officially released. She was transported to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital after being rescued by fellow swimmers and placed in an artificially induced coma.
Farès had become more discreet in recent years but remained a respected figure in French cinema. Her daughters announced her death in a statement to AFP, describing her as a unique and committed artist. The film community has expressed deep sorrow over her passing, remembering her contributions to French and international cinema over three decades.