"Glee" star Naya Rivera is missing and feared drowned at a California lake, local officials said, with rescuers to continue a search for her on Thursday.

The Ventura County Sheriff's office earlier tweeted it was looking for a "possible drowning victim" at the lake, and said a dive team was being deployed to the area.

Rivera, 33, is best known for her role as high school cheerleader Santana Lopez in "Glee," the TV series she starred in for six seasons.

She rented a boat on Wednesday and took her four-year-old son onto Lake Piru, northwest of Los Angeles, said Eric Buschow, the spokesperson for Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

He was found by another person out on the lake "asleep and with his life vest on," Buschow added.

"The search is suspended until the morning and it will resume at daybreak."

Rivera put up a photo of her and her son on Twitter on Wednesday, alongside the phrase: "Just the two of us."

Hundreds have left comments below the post with many offering their prayers. The hashtags #FindNaya and #PrayForNaya were trending on Twitter as many called on the police to continue their search for Rivera.

Rivera was married to actor Ryan Dorsey, but the couple divorced in 2018. The two share custody of the child, according to entertainment website TMZ.

On Chinese social media, netizens expressed their shock over Rivera's disappearance.

Many fans of the musical TV series took to Weibo to express their sympathy and concern, and wondered why the search operation had to be suspended overnight. They said that Rivera's character Santana Lopez was their favorite on the show.

Rivera's disappearance is the last tragedy to have struck "Glee."

Fellow actor, Mark Salling, took his own life in 2018, weeks before being sentenced for possession of child pornography.

Another actor on the hit series, Cory Monteith, died in July 2013 of an overdose of drugs and alcohol.

(Cover: Naya Rivera attends the Women's Guild Cedars-Sinai Annual Luncheon at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on November 6, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California, U.S. /CFP)