Charlbi Dean death: when did Black Lightning actress die, when was she in film Triangle of Sadness?

Charlbi Dean, the South African actor and model who starred in Triangle of Sadness, and the TV series Black Lightning has died at the age of 32.

She died on Monday at a hospital in New York from a sudden unexpected illness, her representatives said.

But who was she, and what films and TV series had she appeared in?

Who was Charlbi Dean?

The actress was born Charlbi Dean Kriek in 1990 in Cape Town, where she was also raised.

Dean began modelling as a child, making frequent appearances on fashion runways and magazine covers in the decades that followed.

She survived a near-fatal car accident in 2009.

What films and TV series has she appeared in?

She made her acting debut in the 2010 film Spud, an adaptation of a popular South African novel about a boys’ boarding school starring Troye Sivan and John Cleese.

She reprised her role in a 2013 sequel.

Dean also had roles inthe films Don’t Sleep and An Interview with God.

She starred in the 2022 satirical dark comedy Triangle Of Sadness, the first English-language film from Swedish Force Majeure director Ruben Ostlund, Dean and Harris Dickinson play a celebrity fashion model couple on a cruise for the ultra-rich that descends into chaos.

The film, which also starred Woody Harrelson won the Palme D’Or at Cannes in May and opens in the US and most of Europe in October.

At the festival before the film won the award, Dean told the Associated Press: “For me, I’m like, I’ve already won. I’m already at Cannes with the movie. That’s so unbelievable. Anything is just a cherry on top at this point for me, you know?”

Dean also had a recurring role as the assassin Syonide in the DC Comics television series Black Lightning, which aired from 2018 to 2021.

Who has paid tribute to her?

The BBC reported that playwright Jeremy O Harris posted: “This is absolutely devastating. Charlbi Dean was such an exciting performer to me after seeing her in Triangle of Sadness.

“Her work had a vulnerability and intellect a lesser actor would have denied the character.”

While, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described Dean as a ‘true star-in-the-making’ who showed ‘enormous promise’.

Another critic, Guy Lodge said, “She’s so witty and deadpan and clockwork-precise in Triangle of Sadness, and I was so excited to see a new South African talent on the international scene.”