Ajay Friese

Ajay Friese (Ajay Parikh-Friese) is an American/Canadian actor and musician. He was a series regular during all three seasons of the Netflix sci-fi drama Lost in Space (2018), and has held recurring roles on four other Netflix Original Series, including Riverdale (2017) and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016). His debut in film came in 2019 as a lead in the critically acclaimed Riot Girls (2019) (from the executive producer of Insidious (2010)). He is cast as the lead in the upcoming crime/mystery feature film Coming Soon, from the producer of The Witch (2015), and is also set to play Deshad in the upcoming Apple+ film The Beanie Bubble (2023), produced by Ron Howard and starring Elizabeth Banks and Zach Galifianakis. Friese's acting career began in live theatre, with more than a dozen credits including Oliver Twist in Oliver! and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. While thrilled to have acted with several professional theatre and opera companies, his role as The Phantom in his high school's production of Phantom of The Opera is a personal favorite. Beyond the screen and stage, Ajay is also a songwriter and recording artist. His debut album ("light a match... then run") was recorded in NYC, with Bon Jovi's Everett Bradley as producer, and was released in 2021. While in high school, Ajay's band Close The Bombay Doors' EP was recognized with three Vancouver Island Music Awards. Ajay was the lyricist, lead composer, vocalist and guitarist for the band, who in 2014 performed at the Rifflandia Music Festival. Ajay is from Victoria, BC, on Canada's west coast. He is now 23, lives in Vancouver, and in his spare time, is studying the humanities at Quest University. Instagram: @FriendlyBrownKid Twitter: @Friese_Ajay