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.
Early life Stidham was born on August 22, 1992, 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.
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.
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. 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. 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.
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.
In 2018, he played archvillain Grand Moff Levine in a musical stage spoof titled Solo Must Die: A Musical Parody. 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. 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.
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 Bloom2023FoilFelix 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 2015Con Man 1st class fan 3 episodes 2016 The Price Is Right Sylvester Dodd Crossover with ScorpionEpisode: "The Fast and the Nerdiest" Insecure Cameron 2 episodes Obituary: A Grave Beginning Lester Catfield / Coach McKinney (voice) TV short 2017 Growth: VR Jack Filo Episode: "Hot yoga" 2020The 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
References
External links