Ari'el Stachel

Ari'el Stachel (born July 29, 1991) is an American actor. He won the 2018 Tony Award for Featured Actor in a Musical for his role in The Band's Visit. Early life Stachel was born and raised in Berkeley, California. His father, Aaron Yeshayahu, the son of Yemenite Jewish immigrants, was born and raised in Israel; his mother, Laura Stachel, is an Ashkenazi Jew from New York. The two met while at Jewish folk dancing in San Francisco. Stachel has said that while growing up, he was uncomfortable with his ethnic heritage. His parents divorced when he was young, and he chose to use his mother's last name in part to avoid being associated with his father's Middle Eastern background. He was in fifth grade when the 9/11 terror attacks occurred, and rather than be identified as part Arab, he told friends he was half Black. As a teenager, he avoided being seen in public with his father, and even excluded him from his high school graduation, as he "didn’t want to be seen with somebody who looked like an Arab." He finally embraced his heritage after being cast in The Band's Visit. Stachel had his first role in a school musical at age 15, after which he left Berkeley High School to attend the Oakland School for the Arts. He went on to study drama at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts.