Raymond Ablack (born November 12, 1989) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He began his career in the early 2000s as a child actor on stage, 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 from 2007 to 2011.
From 2014 to 2017, Ablack starred in the web series Teenagers; he won an Indie Series Award for his performance in 2016. He has also played recurring roles in Orphan Black (2013–2016), Shadowhunters (2016–2018), and Narcos (2017).
Since the early 2020s, Ablack has achieved wider attention for his performances in several popular Netflix series such as Maid (2021), Workin' Moms (2023), and Ginny & Georgia (2021–present).
Contents
Early life
Ablack was born on November 12, 1989 in Toronto, Ontario to Indo-Guyanese parents. His younger sister Rebecca acted with him in Ginny & Georgia. Growing up, Ablack played in a competitive hockey league.
Career
As a child actor, Ablack appeared in television commercials and advertisements. In 2001, he won 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.
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. Ablack starred on the series from 2007 until 2011, 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 film and television 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-length film came in 2013 with the release of the independent feature film Fondi '91 (2013), which was filmed on location in Fondi, Italy and received mixed reviews from critics upon release.
From 2014 to 2017, Ablack portrayed Gabriel in the web series Teenagers. The series, directed by Houston Bone, won critical acclaim. 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 International Academy of Web Television 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 film Buffaloed. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, 2019.
In 2021, Ablack played a supporting role in the Netflix miniseries Maid, which was released on October 1, 2021. His performance and physical appearance in the series, specifically a scene in which he appears topless while wearing a cowboy hat, attracted considerable attention on social media platforms such as Twitter, with Marie Claire writing that "the Canadian actor has become our favorite Netflix heartthrob."
In November 2021, he was cast in a romantic comedy feature film called Love in the Villa, also produced by Netflix.
Since 2021, Ablack has starred as Joe, a restaurant owner and one of the main love interests, on the Netflix comedy-drama series Ginny & Georgia. In 2023, he played a recurring love interest role in the final season of the comedy series Workin' Moms.
Other 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 other Degrassi cast members 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 2010, he travelled with his fellow Degrassi cast mates to India to help build more schools.
In addition to working as an actor, Ablack has written and performed stand-up comedy in Toronto sporadically since the early 2010s.
