Raymond Ablack (born November 12, 1989) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He began his career in the early 2000s as a

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

on stage, performing as Young Simba in ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...

'' at the Princess of Wales Theatre. He later gained recognition for playing Sav Bhandari in the

teen drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

television series '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' from 2007 to 2011. From 2014 to 2017, Ablack starred in the

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

Teenagers Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with ...

''; he won an

Indie Series Award The Indie Series Awards (formerly the Indie Soap Awards) is an annual event hosted by '' We Love Soaps'', based in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best in independently produced, scripted entertainment created for the Internet. The ceremon ...

for his performance in 2016. He has also played recurring roles in ''

Orphan Black ''Orphan Black'' is a Canadian science-fiction thriller television series created by screenwriter Graeme Manson and director John Fawcett and starring Tatiana Maslany. The series focuses on Sarah Manning, one of several genetically identica ...

'' (2013–2016), ''

Shadowhunters ''Shadowhunters'', also known as ''Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments'', is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Ed Decter, based on the novel series ''The Mortal Instruments'' written by Cassandra Clare. It premie ...

'' (2016–2018), and ''

Narcos ''Narcos'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Set and filmed in Colombia, seasons 1 and 2 are about Colombian narcoterrorist and drug lord Pablo Escobar, leader ...

'' (2017). Since the early 2020s, Ablack has achieved wider attention for his performances in several popular

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

such as ''

Maid A maid, housemaid, or maidservant is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era, domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids a ...

'' (2021), '' Workin' Moms'' (2023), and '' Ginny & Georgia'' (2021–present).

Early life

Ablack was born on November 12, 1989 in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

to Indian Guyanese parents. His younger sister Rebecca acted with him in '' Ginny & Georgia''. Growing up, Ablack played in a competitive

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

league.

Career

As a

, Ablack appeared in television commercials and advertisements. In 2001, he won the role of Young Simba in the theatre production of ''

'' at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. He performed the role for one year. Years later, in 2007, Ablack achieved international exposure when he was cast in the recurring role of Sav Bhandari on the long-running Canadian television series '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. Ablack starred on the series from 2007 until 2011, and appeared in more than 100 episodes. During this time, Ablack also had a guest spot on the television series ''

Life With Derek ''Life with Derek'' is a Canadian television teen sitcom that aired on Family Channel (English) and VRAK.TV (French) in Canada and on Disney Channel in the United States. The series premiered on Family on September 18, 2005, and ran for four s ...

''. Since his time on ''Degrassi'', Ablack has worked on several film and television productions, including recurring roles in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

television series ''

'', the Syfy series '' Defiance'', and the Freeform series ''

''. Ablack's first role in a

feature-length film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

came in 2013 with the release of the independent feature film '' Fondi '91'' (2013), which was filmed on location in

Fondi Fondi (; Southern Laziale: ''Fùnn'') is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. As of 2017, the city had a population of 39,800. The city has experienced steady population growth si ...

, Italy and received mixed reviews from critics upon release. From 2014 to 2017, Ablack portrayed Gabriel in the

.'' In 2016, for his performance in the second season of ''Teenagers'', Ablack won an

for Best Supporting Actor – Drama. For his performance in the third and final season, Ablack was nominated for an International Academy of Web Television Award in 2017, and a second Indie Series Award in 2018. Ablack played the recurring role of DEA Agent Stoddard in the third season of the critically acclaimed

series ''

'', which premiered on the streaming platform in 2017. In 2019, he played the recurring role of Sunil Doshi in '' Burden of Truth''. That year, he also appeared alongside

Zoey Deutch Zoey Francis Chaya Thompson Deutch ( ; born November 10, 1994) is an American actress and producer. The younger daughter of director Howard Deutch and actress-director Lea Thompson, Deutch made her acting debut in television during the early 20 ...

Judy Greer Judith Therese Evans (born July 20, 1975), known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress who has appeared in Judy Greer filmography, a wide variety of films. She rose to prominence for ...

, Jermaine Fowler, Noah Reid, and

Jai Courtney Jai Stephen Courtney (; born 15 March 1986) is an Australian actor. Born and raised in Sydney, Courtney started his career as a teenager with small roles in film and television, and studied acting at the Western Australian Academy of Performing ...

in the American

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

'' Buffaloed.'' The film had its world premiere at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on April 27, 2019. In 2021, Ablack played a supporting role in the

miniseries ''

'', which was released on October 1, 2021. His performance and physical appearance in the series, specifically a scene in which he appears topless while wearing a

cowboy hat The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, C ...

, attracted considerable attention on social media platforms such as

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, with ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...

'' writing that "the Canadian actor has become our favorite Netflix heartthrob." In November 2021, he was cast in a romantic comedy feature film called ''Love in the Villa'', also produced by Netflix. Since 2021, Ablack has starred as Joe, a restaurant owner and one of the main love interests, on the Netflix comedy-drama series '' Ginny & Georgia''. In 2023, he played a recurring love interest role in the final season of the comedy series '' Workin' Moms''. In addition to working as an actor, Ablack sometimes writes and performs

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

in Toronto.

Charity work

Ablack has done extensive

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

work throughout his career, mostly through ''Degrassi'', including school-building missions with

Me to We Me to We (stylized as ME to WE) is a for-profit company selling lifestyle products, leadership training and travel experience. Me to We was founded in 2008 by brothers Craig Kielburger, Craig and Marc Kielburger. ME to WE’s engagements with th ...

and

Free the Children WE Charity (), formerly known as Free the Children (), is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. The organization implemented development progra ...

. In 2007, Ablack traveled to Africa with five other ''Degrassi'' cast members to build a school in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and, in 2008, he travelled again with his cast members to do charity work in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. A documentary of Ablack and his cast mates' trip aired on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

in Canada. In 2010, he travelled with his fellow ''Degrassi'' cast mates to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to help build more schools.

Filmography

Film

Television

Audio drama

Filmmaking credits

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ablack, Raymond 1989 births Living people 21st-century Canadian comedians 21st-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Canadian jujutsuka Canadian male actors of Indian descent Canadian male comedians Canadian male film actors Canadian male karateka Canadian male television actors Canadian people of Indo-Guyanese descent Canadian stand-up comedians Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts alumni Comedians from Toronto Gōjū-ryū practitioners Male actors from Toronto