Araya Mengesha (born July 23, 1987) is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as himself on the kids documentary mystery series Mystery Hunters and as Mark Yohannes in Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, in which he currently stars. He had a role in the Bob Odenkirk action film Nobody, and had a recurring role in the period drama Anne with an E. He is a claimant to the throne of Ethiopia, abolished in 1974.
Biography
Mengesha was born in Toronto to Ethiopian-Canadian International business consultant Prince Stefanos Mengesha Seyoum and Eritrean-Canadian Selamawit Kiros. Through his father, he is a member of the Imperial family of Ethiopia. He is the cousin of theatre director Weyni Mengesha.
From 2002 to 2009, together with David Acer and Christina Broccolini he was a presenter of the documentary television series Mystery Hunters.
His short film Defund, co-directed with Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, and was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2021.