Yani Gellman

Yani Gellman
Born	(1985-09-02) September 2, 1985 (age 39) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1998–present

Yani Gellman (born September 2, 1985) is a Canadian film and television actor, known for playing Paolo Valisari in The Lizzie McGuire Movie , Garrett Reynolds in Pretty Little Liars and Diego Flores in 90210.

Early life

Gellman was born in Miami, Florida, to a Canadian father and an Australian mother, and lived in North York, Canada. He is of Russian Jewish, English, and Spanish descent. ^[1] He was named after a family friend, writer Jan Yoors. His father was a reporter, and the family frequently moved during Gellman's childhood, living in Australia, Spain, and Texas before settling in Toronto. ^[2] Gellman speaks Spanish, having learned it during his time living in Spain. He has a university degree in political science.

Career

Gellman's acting debut was in a 1998 episode of the television series, Animorphs . After appearing in several more television productions, he was cast in supporting roles in the 2000 film, Urban Legends: Final Cut and in 2001's Jason X . In both films, his characters eventually became victims of serial killers. He appeared in 2002's The Matthew Shepard Story as Pablo, the love interest of the title character. Gellman became known among teenage audiences after playing the part of Paolo Valisari, an Italian pop singer and the main antagonist of 2003's The Lizzie McGuire Movie .

He has been cast in the Canadian series Monster Warriors . From 2008 to 2012 he played Rafe Torres in the long-running soap opera, The Young and the Restless . Gellman has also appeared as a model in numerous print ads, including Omega watches. He made a cameo in Degrassi Goes Hollywood , as well as playing Pete in multiple episodes of "Greek". He has recently played the role of police officer, Garrett Reynolds in hit TV show Pretty Little Liars . He has also starred as Diego in the hit TV show 90210 .

In 2017, Gellman appeared in the underwater survival thriller film 47 Meters Down which was released in theaters on 16 June 2017. ^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Urban Legends: Final Cut	Rob
2001	Jason X	Stoney
2003	The Lizzie McGuire Movie	Paolo Valisari
2013	Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th	Himself	Documentary film
2017	47 Meters Down	Louis
2023	Departing Seniors	Mr. Arda

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Goosebumps	Young Man	2 episodes
	Animorphs	Brad	Episode: "The Forgotten"
2000	The Famous Jett Jackson	JB Follower	Episode: "What You Wish For"
2001	Blue Murder	Patrick Lee	Episode: "All Saints"
	Sex, Lies & Obsession	Romeo	Television film
	Boss of Bosses	Young Paul Castellano [4]
2002	The Matthew Shepard Story	Pablo
	Mentors	King Tutankhamen	Episode: "Cursed"
	Tru Confessions	Billy	Television film
	Guinevere Jones	Michael Medina	Lead role (26 episodes)
2003–2004	Wild Card	Ryder	Recurring role, 8 episodes
2006–2007	Monster Warriors	Antonio	Lead role
2007	Trapped	Carlitos	Documentary series
2008–2012	The Young and the Restless	Rafe Torres	86 episodes
2009	Degrassi Goes Hollywood	The Shores Boy	Television film
	Lincoln Heights	Marco Gutierrez	2 episodes
2010	Greek	Pete / Omega Chi	3 episodes
2011–2012	Pretty Little Liars	Officer Garrett Reynolds	Recurring role (23 episodes)
2012	90210	Diego Flores	7 episodes
	The Mentalist	Julian Gallego	Episode: "Devil's Cherry"
	Beauty & the Beast	Sam	Episode: "All In"
2013	Criminal Minds	Mitchell Ruiz	Episode: "Broken"
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Doug Lasky	Episode: "Ghosts of the Past"
	The Client List	Diego Shankman	Episode: "I Miss Back Then"
	Category 5	Pete Keller	Television film
2014	Castle	Manny Castro	Episode: "Law & Boarder"
	Major Crimes	Dante	Episode: "Major Crimes"
2015	Trigger Point	Jared Church	Television film
	Blood & Oil	A.J. Menendez	Episode: "Pilot"
	iZombie	Gabriel	2 episodes
	CSI: Cyber	Jackson Richmond	Episode: "Shades of Grey"
2017	The Psycho She Met Online	Tyler Hexley	Television film
	The Saint	Doyle Cosentino
2018	Dynasty	Manuel	3 episodes
2019	Bosch	Jose Esquivel Jr.	4 episodes
2024	A Bestselling Kind of Love	Tom	Television film

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Pretty Dirty Secrets	Garrett Reynolds	Episode: "I'm a Free Man"

References

1. "Yani Gellman on working with Burt Reynolds and growing up in North York - Do - June 2014 - Toronto". Postcity.com. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
2. Alachua Today Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
3. Solzman, Danielle (June 18, 2015). "47 Meters Down: A Shark-Thrilling Tale of Survival". solzyatthemovies. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
4. "Acting up in Canada" at playbackonline.ca

External links

• Yani Gellman at IMDb
• "The Young and the Sexless", interview in Out Magazine