Raymond Ablack

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. He is also known for his guest roles in Orphan Black (2013–2016), Narcos (2017), and Shadowhunters (2016–2018), among other series.

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

Acting

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

Ablack in 2013

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. 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. He also played the lead role in the independent feature film Fondi '91 (2013), which received mixed reviews from critics upon release.

From 2014 to 2017, Ablack portrayed Gabriel in the web series Teenagers. In 2016, for his performance in the second season of Teenagers, Ablack won an Indie Series Award for Best Supporting Actor – Drama. For his performance in the third and final season, Ablack was nominated for an IAWTV 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 Netflix series Narcos, which premiered on the streaming platform in 2017.

In 2019, he played the recurring role of Sunil Doshi in Burden of Truth.

Stand-up comedy

In addition to working as an actor, Ablack writes and performs stand up comedy in Toronto. 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. The campaign raised over $5,000. 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. 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.