Raymond Ablack 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 . 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, Narcos, and Shadowhunters, among other series.
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 in the early 2000s. 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 . 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. Ablack's first role in a feature film came in 2013 with the release of the independent feature filmFondi '91, which received mixed reviews from critics upon release. From 2014 to 2017, Ablack portrayed Gabriel in the web seriesTeenagers. 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. That year, he also appeared alongside Zoey Deutch, Judy Greer, Jermaine Fowler, Noah Reid, and Jai Courtney in the American comedy drama filmBuffaloed. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, 2019. 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 troupeWhys 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 charitywork inEcuador. 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.
