Raviv Ullman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Raviv Ullman

Birth name	Raviv Ullman
Born	January 24, 1986 (age 21) Eilat, Israel
Other name(s)	Ricky Ullman
Notable roles	Phil Diffy in Phil of the Future

Raviv Ullman (Hebrew: רביב אולמן), better known as Ricky Ullman, (born January 24, 1986 in Eilat, Israel), is an Israeli-born American actor. He is perhaps best known for playing Phil Diffy, the main character in the Disney Channel television series Phil of the Future.

1 Biography
2 Filmography
3 Television
4 Stage
5 Footnotes
6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Ullman was born in Eilat, Israel, to Jewish-American parents Brian Ullman and Laura Ehrenkrantz. His maternal grandfather, Joseph Ehrenkrantz, is a Rabbi in Stamford, Connecticut and his family is related to Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.^[1] After his first birthday, his family moved to Fairfield, Connecticut in the United States. When Raviv was younger, his father worked as a clown. Ullman took an interest in acting after seeing a musical production in a children's acting camp. He attended the camp the following summer and landed both lead and supporting roles, which helped him discover his talents in acting, singing, and dancing.

[edit] Career

Ullman's first professional stage role was as Louis in the national touring company of The King and I along with Jesse McCartney. Other productions he worked on include Peter Pan at the Polka Dot Playhouse, The Music Man with the New England Repertory Company, and Just People at the Long Wharf Theatre. He received a 1998-99 Best Actor nomination from the Connecticut Critics Awards for his character Stanley in Stamford Theater Work's A Rosen by Any Other Name.

Ullman is currently best known for his starring role as Phil Diffy, a teen from the year 2121 on Disney Channel's Phil of the Future, a series which debuted in June 2004. He also starred as Roscoe in Disney's made-for-television film, Pixel Perfect and in as Sam in ABC Family's television film Searching for David's Heart (2005). Ullman is an identified member of the Disney Channel Circle of Stars, and appeared with other members of the Circle in the music video for "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes", where he sang as well as played the drums.

While Ullman originally went by the stage name Ricky, he has recently started using his real name, being credited as Raviv Ullman when he guest-starred on an episode of House in 2006.

In July 2006, he created a rap song and video, "Pointy Hat (The Boat Song)", with some of his friends, under the name The Webee Boys. The video has been viewed over 140,000 times since it was posted to YouTube on July 26, 2006. They made another, entitled "Refrigerator (Gangsta' Way)", in August 2006, which has been viewed over 40,000 times.

[edit] Personal life

Ullman speaks fluent Hebrew and has taught himself how to play the drums. He is a graduate of Fairfield Warde High School, where he served as president of the Student Council.^[2] One of his best friends is Orlando Brown, best known for playing Eddie Thomas in That's So Raven. Brown appeared in the Phil of the Future episode "Team Diffy" playing an antagonist, Andy Baxley, and Ullman appeared in the That's So Raven episode "On Top of Old Oakey" playing an antagonist, Jake Haskell. Ullman is currently living in Los Angeles, California with six of his friends, including the The Veronicas. Ullman recently appeared at UCLA's 2007 Dance Marathon event in February.