Raymond Ablack

Raymond Ablack (born November 12, 1989) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He 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).

Raymond Ablack
Ablack at the 2010 Gemini Awards
Born	November 12, 1989 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Education	Ryerson University
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Years active	2000s–present

From 2014 to 2017, Ablack starred in the web series Teenagers; he won an Indie Series Award for his performance in 2016. He is also known for his supporting roles in Orphan Black (2013–2016), Narcos (2017), Shadowhunters (2016–2018), and Burden of Truth (2019), among other series. He has starred in the independent films Fondi '91 (2013) and Buffaloed (2019).

Early life

Ablack was born and raised by Indo-Guyanese parents in Toronto, Ontario.[1] Growing up, he played in a competitive hockey league.[2]

Career

Acting

As a child actor, Ablack appeared in numerous television commercials and advertisements,[3] before securing the role of Young Simba in the theatre production of The Lion King at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto in the early 2000s.[4] He performed the role for one year.[5]

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.[6] 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.[7]

Ablack's first role in a feature film came in 2013 with the release of the independent feature film Fondi '91 (2013), which received mixed reviews from critics upon release.[8][9]

Ablack in 2016

From 2014 to 2017, Ablack portrayed Gabriel in the web series Teenagers.[10] In 2016, for his performance in the second season of Teenagers, Ablack won an Indie Series Award for Best Supporting Actor – Drama.[11] For his performance in the third and final season, Ablack was nominated for an IAWTV Award, in 2017,[12] and a second Indie Series Award, in 2018.[13]

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.[14]

In 2019, he played the recurring role of Sunil Doshi in Burden of Truth.[15] That year, he also appeared alongside Zoey Deutch, Judy Greer, Jermaine Fowler, Noah Reid, and Jai Courtney in the American comedy drama film Buffaloed.[16] The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, 2019.[17]

In August 2019, Deadline announced that Ablack would be featured in the forthcoming Netflix series Ginny & Georgia.[18]

Comedy

In addition to working as an actor, Ablack writes and performs stand-up comedy in Toronto.[19] 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.[20] The campaign raised over $5,000.[21] As of September 2020, 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.[22][23]

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.[24]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Fondi '91	Anil
2015	Beeba Boys	Grewal's Gangster
2017	Ashes	Jay
2018	Acqauinted	Alex
2019	Buffaloed	Prakash

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"
2009	Degrassi Goes Hollywood	Sav Bhandari	TV movie
2010	Degrassi Takes Manhattan	Sav Bhandari	TV movie
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
2019	Burden of Truth	Sunil Doshi	4 episodes
2020	Ginny & Georgia	Joe	10 episodes
2020	Nurses	Kabir Pavan	2 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
2016	Indie Series Awards[25]	Best Supporting Actor – Drama	Teenagers	Won
2017	International Academy of Web Television[26]	Best Male Performance – Drama		Nominated
2018	Indie Series Awards[27]	Best Supporting Actor – Drama		Nominated

References

1. "Toronto Actor Raymond Ablack on his role in Narcos".
2. freethechildrenintl (2009-05-20), Charity Cup - Students vs. Teachers Hockey Game, retrieved 2016-06-25
3. "Raymond Ablack Biography". www.buddytv.com. Retrieved 2016-06-25.
4. "Local actor Ray Ablack on the road from Lion King to Netflix's Narcos". thestar.com. 2017-08-31. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
5. "THE MORNING SHOW July 10 2013 9:08am 05:57 Actor Raymond Ablack".
6. "17 Questions". Seventeen. 2008-10-21. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
7. "Exclusive Interview with Teenagers' Raymond Ablack". TalkNerdyWithUs. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
8. "Fondi '91". 2013-07-11. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
9. "Fondi '91, reviewed: A nice-looking coming-of-age film that doesn't quite get there". Retrieved 2016-08-22.
10. "New web series Teenagers attracts Degrassi alum". 15 January 2014. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
11. "Indie Series Awards: 7th Annual Indie Series Awards Winners". Retrieved 2016-04-11.
12. "2017 IAWTV Awards". International Academy of Web Television. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
13. "9th Annual Indie Series Awards Nominations". www.indieseriesawards.com. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
14. "Local actor Ray Ablack on the road from Lion King to Netflix's Narcos | The Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
15. Pedersen, Erik (2019-05-31). "'Burden Of Truth': The CW Renews Legal Drama Starring Kristin Kreuk For Season 3". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
16. "'Buffaloed': Film Review | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
17. Hayes, Dade (March 5, 2019). "Tribeca Film Festival Unveils Feature Lineup, With Screen Time For John DeLorean, Muhammad Ali, Chelsea Manning". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
18. Ramos, Dino-Ray (2019-08-13). "Netflix Orders New YA Series 'Ginny & Georgia', Antonia Gentry and Brianne Howey Topline Main Cast". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
19. "Season 10 Degrassi Star: Raymond Ablack!". Vervegirl. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
20. "Exclusive Interview with Teenagers' Raymond Ablack". TalkNerdyWithUs. 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
21. "O Brother!". Indiegogo. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
22. "www.metowe.com" (PDF).
23. "Degrassi star speaks out about youth volunteer work - News - The Moose Jaw Times Herald". www.mjtimes.sk.ca. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
24. "Hanging with Degrassi's Raymond Ablack". Seventeen. 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
25. "7th Annual Indie Series Awards Winners".
26. "Home". International Academy of Web Television. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
27. "9th Annual Indie Series Awards Nominees".

External links

• Raymond Ablack at IMDb