Raymond Ablack

Raymond Ablack
Ablack at the 2010 Gemini Awards
Born (1989-11-12) November 12, 1989
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Education Ryerson University
Occupation Actor, comedian
Years active 2007–present

Raymond Ablack (born November 12, 1989) is a Canadian actor and comedian who began his career on stage as a child actor, performing as Young Simba in The Lion King at the Princess of Wales Theatre. He later gained recognition for playing Sav Bhandari in the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2007–2011).

From 2014 to 2017, Ablack starred in the web series Teenagers; he won an Indie Series Award for his performance in 2016.[1] He is also known for his guest roles in Orphan Black (2013–2016), Narcos (2017), and Shadowhunters (2016–2018), among other series.[2]

Early life

Ablack was born and raised by Indo-Guyanese parents in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[3] Growing up, he played in a competitive hockey league.[4]

Career

Acting

Ablack in 2013

As a child actor, Ablack appeared in numerous television commercials and advertisements,[5] before securing the role of Young Simba in the theatre production of The Lion King at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto.[6] He performed the role for one year.[7]

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.[8] He starred on the show for five years and appeared in more than 100 episodes. During this time, Ablack also had a guest spot on the television series Life With Derek.

Since his time on Degrassi, Ablack has worked on several productions, including recurring roles in the BBC/Space television series Orphan Black, the Syfy series Defiance, and the Freeform series Shadowhunters.[9] He also played the lead role in the independent feature film Fondi '91 (2013), which received mixed reviews from critics upon release.[10][11]

Ablack in 2016

From 2014 to 2017, Ablack portrayed Gabriel in the web series Teenagers.[12] In 2016, for his performance in the second season of Teenagers, Ablack won an Indie Series Award for Best Supporting Actor – Drama.[1] For his performance in the third and final season, Ablack was nominated for an IAWTV Award, in 2017,[13] and a second Indie Series Award, in 2018.[14]

Ablack played the recurring role of DEA Agent Stoddard in the third season of the critically acclaimed Netflix series Narcos, which premiered on the streaming platform in 2017.[2]

Stand-up comedy

In addition to working as an actor, Ablack writes and performs stand up comedy in Toronto.[15] In mid 2016, he launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for a comedic sketch web series called O' Brother featuring his comedy troupe Whys Guise, which includes fellow Degrassi alums Shane Kippel, Melinda Shankar, and Dalmar Abuzeid.[16] The campaign raised over $5,000.[17] As of 2018, the series has not been released.

Charity work

Ablack has done extensive charity work throughout his career, mostly through Degrassi, including school-building missions with Me to We and Free the Children.[18][19] In 2007, Ablack traveled to Africa with five Degrassi cast member's to build a school in Kenya and, in 2008, he travelled again with his cast members to do charity work in Ecuador. A documentary of Ablack and his cast mates' trip aired on MTV in Canada in the fall of 2007. In 2010, he travelled with his fellow Degrassi cast mates to India to help build schools.[20]

Filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2007–2011 Degrassi: The Next Generation Sav Bhandari 118 episodes
2009 Life With Derek Kevin Episode: " Truman's Last Chance"
2011 How To Be Indie Raj Episode: "How to Fake Your Way Through a Freaky Formal"
2013–2016 Orphan Black Raj Singh 4 episodes
2014–2017 Teenagers Gabriel Web series; 20 episodes
2015 Defiance Samir Pandey 6 episodes
2016 Degrassi: Next Class Sav Bhandari 2 episodes
2016 Annedroids Dave Episode: "Bionic Grandma"
2016–2018 Shadowhunters Raj 7 episodes
2017 Ransom Piers Allard Episode: "Joe"
2017 The Kennedys: After Camelot Sirhan Sirhan Episode: "Family Bonds"; credited as Ray Ablack
2017 Narcos Stoddard 5 episodes

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2009 Degrassi Goes Hollywood Sav Bhandari TV movie
2010 Degrassi Takes Manhattan Sav Bhandari TV movie
2013 Fondi '91 Anil
2015 Beeba Boys Grewal's Gangster
2017 Ashes Jay
2019 Buffaloed Post-production

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Nominated work Result
2016 Indie Series Awards[21] Best Supporting Actor – Drama Teenagers Won
2017 International Academy of Web Television[22] Best Male Performance – Drama Nominated
2018 Indie Series Awards[23] Best Supporting Actor – Drama Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 "Indie Series Awards: 7th Annual Indie Series Awards Winners". Retrieved 2016-04-11.
  2. 1 2 "Local actor Ray Ablack on the road from Lion King to Netflix's Narcos | The Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
  3. ↑ "Toronto Actor Raymond Ablack on his role in Narcos".
  4. ↑ freethechildrenintl (2009-05-20), Charity Cup - Students vs. Teachers Hockey Game, retrieved 2016-06-25
  5. ↑ "Raymond Ablack Biography". www.buddytv.com. Retrieved 2016-06-25.
  6. ↑ "MISAFF14 Star". MISAFF Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  7. ↑ "THE MORNING SHOW July 10 2013 9:08am 05:57 Actor Raymond Ablack".
  8. ↑ "17 Questions". Seventeen. 2008-10-21. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  9. ↑ "Exclusive Interview with Teenagers' Raymond Ablack". TalkNerdyWithUs. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  10. ↑ "Fondi '91". 2013-07-11. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  11. ↑ "Fondi '91, reviewed: A nice-looking coming-of-age film that doesn't quite get there". Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  12. ↑ 15, Playback Staff January; 2014. "New web series Teenagers attracts Degrassi alum". Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  13. ↑ "2017 IAWTV Awards". International Academy of Web Television. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  14. ↑ "9th Annual Indie Series Awards Nominations". www.indieseriesawards.com. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  15. ↑ "Season 10 Degrassi Star: Raymond Ablack!". Vervegirl. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  16. ↑ "Exclusive Interview with Teenagers' Raymond Ablack". TalkNerdyWithUs. 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  17. ↑ "O Brother!". Indiegogo. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  18. ↑ "www.metowe.com" (PDF).
  19. ↑ "Degrassi star speaks out about youth volunteer work - News - The Moose Jaw Times Herald". www.mjtimes.sk.ca. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  20. ↑ "Hanging with Degrassi's Raymond Ablack". Seventeen. 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  21. ↑ "7th Annual Indie Series Awards Winners".
  22. ↑ "Home". International Academy of Web Television. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
  23. ↑ "9th Annual Indie Series Awards Nominees".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.