Araya Mengesha

Araya Mengesha
Araya Mengesha in 2019
Araya Mengesha in 2019
Born (1987-07-23) July 23, 1987 (age 37)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationActor
Years active2002–present
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
FatherPrince Stefanos Mengesha Seyoum
FamilyWeyni Mengesha (cousin)

Araya Mengesha[2] (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.[3]

From 2002 to 2009, together with David Acer and Christina Broccolini he was a presenter of the documentary television series Mystery Hunters.[4]

His short film Defund, co-directed with Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival,[5] and was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2021.[6]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2002–2009 Mystery Hunters Himself
2002 Conviction William Conamacher TV movie
2008 Nurse.Fighter.Boy Kandae
2010 Nikita Ben Prentice
2011 Degrassi: The Next Generation Frat Guy #1
2012 Cul de sac Michael Short
2013 Saving Hope Den Bailli
2014 Ruby Skye P.I.: The Maltese Puppy Zoffi Web series
Ryan Gosling Must Be Stopped Bus Stop Guy TV Miniseries
2018–2019 Anne With An E Elijah 5 episodes [7]
2020 Tiny Pretty Things Tyler Stroyer 5 episodes [8]
2021 Nobody Pavel [9]
Defund Brother
2022 Revenge of the Black Best Friend Phil
Hello (Again) Douggie Series regular [10]
2023 Regular Reggie Short film
2024 Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent Mark Yohannes Series regular

References

  1. ^ "Araya Mengesha". Gary Goddard Agency. Archived from the original on April 28, 2014. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  2. ^ "Araya Mengesha". TV.com.
  3. ^ Mercedes Grundy (April 29, 2016). "Meet Stratford's new royal family". Exhibitionists.
  4. ^ "Official website of Mystery Hunters". Archived from the original on February 24, 2014. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  5. ^ Pat Mullen, "TIFF Unveil's [sic] Line-up for 'Celebrating Alanis' Retrospective". Point of View, August 11, 2021.
  6. ^ Norman Wilner, "TIFF announces Canada's Top Ten films of 2021" Archived 2021-12-06 at the Wayback Machine. Now, December 6, 2021.
  7. ^ Anne (Drama, Family), Amybeth McNulty, Geraldine James, R. H. Thomson, Northwood Anne, Northwood Entertainment, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 2017-05-12, retrieved 2024-04-17{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. ^ Tiny Pretty Things (Drama, Mystery, Romance), Kylie Jefferson, Lauren Holly, Casimere Jollette, Insurrection Media, Peacock Alley Entertainment, Mojo Films, 2020-12-14, retrieved 2024-04-17{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ Naishuller, Ilya (2021-03-26), Nobody (Action, Crime, Drama), Bob Odenkirk, Aleksey Serebryakov, Connie Nielsen, 87North, Dentsu, Eighty Two Films, retrieved 2024-04-17
  10. ^ Hello (Again) (Romance, Comedy), Alex Mallari Jr, Araya Mengesha, Rong Fu, 100 Dragons Media, 2022-03-25, retrieved 2024-04-17{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)