Body found in actor's pool

LONDON, England -- A man has been found dead in the pool of British-based actor Art Malik.

The 23-year-old man had been attending a birthday party at Malik's home in southwest London early on Friday morning, police said.

Pakistani-born Malik is best known for his roles in "Passage to India" and "Jewel in the Crown," and the Arnold Schwarzenegger film "True Lies."

Paramedics failed to revive the man after he was found unconscious in the pool that had been covered with a marquee for the party.

A post mortem revealed the man had drowned, said Detective Inspector Dave Way.

Toxicology tests were also being carried out to discover whether there were any other contributory factors.

"There were a few people swimming in the pool, then everybody left leaving the young man on his own. Somebody went back to see if he was okay and found him, very tragically (unconscious)," Way said.

"They tried to take him out of the pool and resuscitate him but they weren't successful."

An ambulance was called to the house at 0730 GMT.

"Mr Malik is very distressed and trying to come to terms with this tragic incident."

Malik's acting skill was first shown to American audiences in the miniseries "The Far Pavillions", co-starring Ben Cross and Amy Irving.

He was seen in David Lean's feature, "A Passage to India," where he gained critical acclaim as Hari Kumar, an Indian who romances an Englishwoman.

In 1987 he played an Afghan rebel leader who teams with James Bond (Timothy Dalton) in "The Living Daylights," and was a gangster in "City of Joy" in 1992.