Raymond Ablack

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]

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.