A photostabilized photoactive composition comprising a mixture of a photoactive compound that develops a singlet excited state, or fluoresces when subjected to UV radiation and an effective amount of an excited state quencher comprising a cyano-containing fused tricyclic compound of formula (I):wherein: A is selected from the group consisting of O, S, C═O, andn is selected from the group consisting of 0 and 1 and, R1 and R2 are each independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl, cycloalkyl, ether, aryl, and amino.