Charlbi Dean, the star of this year’s Palme d’Or-winning film at Cannes, “Triangle of Sadness,” who also appeared in The CW series “Black Lightning,” has died, TheWrap has confirmed. The actress was 32.
Dean died Monday in New York City after a sudden and unexpected illness. No other details were immediately available.
Dean played the character Yaya in the film “Triangle of Sadness” from director Ruben Östlund, portraying a high-end fashion model who gets the chance to attend a cruise for the uber-wealthy as a social media influencer. On “Black Lightning,” she portrayed the character Syonide, a deadly assassin and the daughter of the show’s main antagonist Tobias Whale.
Some of her other credits include 2018’s “Porthole,” “An Interview With God,” 2017’s “Don’t Sleep,” an episode of “Elementary” and the films “Spud” and its sequel “Spud 2: The Madness Continues.”
Dean, a South African actress and model, was engaged to male model Luke Volker and had also done some other modeling work as an up-and-coming star, among them appearing on the cover of Vogue, Venice Magazine and more recently working on a campaign with the fashion brand Madewell.
In 2008 when she was just 18, Dean survived a near-fatal car accident in Cape Town that landed her in the ICU and resulted in injuries to at least five other passengers, including her boyfriend at the time.