Ari Stidham

Ari Stidham (born August 22, 1992) is an American actor. He is known for his role of statistical genius Sylvester Dodd in the CBS drama series Scorpion.^[1]

Ari Stidham
Stidham at San Diego Comic-Con in 2016
Born	(1992-08-22) August 22, 1992 (age 32)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2010–present

Early life

Stidham was born on August 22, 1992,^[2][3] to a Sephardic Jewish father and an Ashkenazi Jewish mother, and grew up in Westlake Village, California. His maternal grandparents were from Russia, and his paternal grandparents were from Morocco and the United States. He was raised in an observant Reform Jewish home, and he attended the Center for Early Jewish Education in Thousand Oaks. He does not identify as religiously Jewish, but he identifies as culturally Jewish.^[4]

Stidham began playing music at four and performed in theater and musical productions throughout elementary and high school. He later performed with and was a member of ComedySportz Los Angeles Improvisational comedy group.^[4][5]

Career

Stidham broke into acting in 2010, with the character Ian in ABC Family television series Huge, based on a novel of the same name which centered around eight teenagers who had been sent to a weight loss camp.^[6] He later auditioned for the part of Sylvester Dodd in the CBS series Scorpion, despite the role being written for an African-American actor in his thirties, and was cast in the role after a single audition.^[5] From 2014 to 2018, Stidham was a part of the main cast for the all four seasons of the series (93 episodes).

He also releases music under the name DrTelevision, or DRTV. Additionally, through his production company Stidley Inc., he produces "short form alternative comedy" with Zach Green, including a monthly love comedy radio play Dick Duquesne: Tales of a Private Dick.^[7]

Stidham founded his company, Sanguinet Films in 2016 with Ari at the helm as a producer, writer, and director of the company. He directed their flagship feature, Curse of the Siren, which premiered at Fangoria Fearcon in 2016.^{[citation needed]}

In 2018, he played archvillain Grand Moff Levine in a musical stage spoof titled Solo Must Die: A Musical Parody.^[8] In October 2019, Stidham presented a comedy and musical celebration and re-telling of the Edgar Allan Poe's works titled The Edgar Allan Show.^[9] Re-enactments and recitals of 'The Raven', 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Fall of the House of Usher', were directed by and featured original songs by Stidham.^[10]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
2009	Jack's Box	Ari
2010	Election Day	Ari
2010	The Green Family Elbow	Bully
2011	Anyplace	Luke
2011	Talon's Rant
2012	Kidnap Party	Officer
2016	The Meme	Max Bloom
2023	Foil	Felix The Manager

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Huge	Ian Schonfeld	Main cast - 10 episodes
	The Whole Truth	Erik	Episode: "True Confessions"
2011	Glee	Drunk Kid	Episode: "Blame It on the Alcohol"
2013	Mike and Molly	Henry	Episode: "Molly's New Shoes"
	The Crazy Ones	Ari / Member of the Crowd	Episodes: "The Spectacular", "The Intern"
2014–2018	Scorpion	Sylvester Dodd	Main cast - 93 episodes
2015	Con Man	1st class fan	3 episodes
2016	The Price Is Right	Sylvester Dodd	Crossover with Scorpion Episode: "The Fast and the Nerdiest"[11]
	Insecure	Cameron	2 episodes
	Obituary: A Grave Beginning	Lester Catfield / Coach McKinney (voice)	TV short
2017	Growth: VR	Jack Filo	Episode: "Hot yoga"
2020	The Fugitive	Head shop owner	Episode: "Hunted Becomes the Hunter"
	The Martian Broadcast	Orson Welles (voice)	Episode: "Something for Children"
2021	5150	Radio show host (voice)	TV short