Stephen Amell plays Ted Black in Suits LA (Custom cover edited by Sportskeeda, Original Image [The CW])

Who is Stephen Amell? Meet the actor who plays Ted Black in Suits LA

Modified Apr 04, 2025 11:33 GMT

NBC's Suits LA introduces an extension of the Suits universe but with a new cast and setting. Actor Stephen Amell stars in the spinoff, which is a single-lead show compared to the dual-lead original series. He plays Ted Black, a former prosecutor in New York who became an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles.

The show chronicles Ted's life on the West Coast, with a flashback storyline about what went wrong in New York ten years ago that forced him to relocate and change his law specialty. But while Ted Black's life is fictional in Suits LA, it's inspired by Ted Chervin's career trajectory, a real-life federal prosecutor turned Hollywood talent agent.

Stephen Amell's Ted Black isn't his first stint in a starring role, as he previously starred in the superhero action-adventure series Arrow, created by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Andrew Kreisberg.

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Ted Black: Meet Stephen Amell's character in Suits LA

Stephen Amell's Ted Black is the lead character in the Suits LA storyline. The present-day timeline in the series features his life in Los Angeles, some ten years after he relocated there from New York. He was an NY prosecutor pursuing a mobster called Pellegrini, but the case went wrong, ending with the death of his key witness.

In his new life in Los Angeles, Ted works as an entertainment lawyer, representing some of Hollywood's most prominent and emerging names. However, his personal and professional life turned upside down when his friend and partner, Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt), with whom he founded Black Lane Law, left him to start a new firm with his ex, Samantha Railsback.

In the first half of Suits LA, Ted undertakes a murder case in hopes of saving his fledgling law firm. In an interview with NBC Insider, published on March 6, 2025, he described his character as Ted Black in Suits LA and why he wanted to play it in the first place:

"I don't want to play a character that's perfect. I like playing a character with flaws. Maybe his management style isn't the best, maybe he's a little abrasive, maybe he's a little emotional, quick to judge, but these are all real things, real personality traits that people have."

Stephen Amell famously starred in Arrow

Perhaps one of Stephen Amell's most famous TV shows is Arrow, an urban adventure superhero series on The CW. The show premiered on the channel in October 2012 and aired for eight seasons until January 2020. Amell starred in the series as the title character, Arrow, a vigilante hero also often called "Hood" and "Vigilante," and is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow.

Before he became the eponymous superhero, Amell's character was a billionaire playboy named Oliver Queen who had a sheltered life. He went missing after an accident in his father's yacht and was forced to survive on his own on a remote island. Meanwhile, his family and the people in Starling City had presumed him dead.

He was discovered five years later. Upon his return to Starling City, he secretly created the Arrow persona to make amends for his and his family's past actions.

Stephen Amell's filmography outside of Suits LA and Arrow

Besides Suits LA and Arrow, Stephen Amell has worked on dozens of projects on TV and film. He was mostly on TV shows early in his acting career in the early 2000s, starting with his debut in Queer as Folk, per his IMDb page. He went on to guest star in Degrassi: The Next Generation, 90210, Beautiful People, and Dante's Cove.

Amell also had recurring roles in Heartland, Rent-a-Goalie, Hung, Private Practice, and Vixen. However, before he was cast as the title character in Arrow, Stephen Amell first played Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in Supergirl, Batwoman, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow. He also reprised the role in The Flash during and after his Arrow days.

As for movies, some of Amell's earlier works include When Calls the Heart, Code 8, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. In 2024, two of his movies came out. He was in the Western film Calamity Jane and the second installment of Code 8, in which he starred with his first cousin Robbie Amell.

Stephen Amell also has credits for writing and directing, per his IMDb page. He created an episode for Dudes Being Dudes in Wine Country and produced the two action-thriller Code 8 movies. He was voted Male Star of Tomorrow at the 2016 CinemaCon and won the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor in the action category 2019 for Arrow.

Catch Stephen Amell as Ted Black in Suits LA, which is now streaming on Peacock.

About the author

Kinette covers beauty and home decor as a lifestyle writer at Sportskeeda. With over 7.5 years experience in writing for diverse platforms, including The Coolist, Snap Knot, Leisure Seeker, and KS Content Studio, Kinette is quite the shapeshifter in the content world and prides herself as a generalist. However, she feels that her greatest strength is her repository of personal expertise and experience, which she combines with extensive research and credible sources, to deliver compelling reportage on beauty, lifestyle, and wellness.

Kinette graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering before venturing into the world of home improvement and decor writing, although her love for skincare soon pushed her into the beauty space. Despite covering a wide range of topics in her writing career, Kinette now leans towards categories she has personal or educational experience in, to offer only the most reliable and insightful reading experience to her audience.

Kinette’s favorite artist is Taylor Swift, whose lyricism and ability to create a vivid picture with deft wordplay she admiresa lot. When not writing and reporting on beauty and lifestyle trends, Kinette loves playing with her dogs, drinking coffee in the morning and experimenting with cocktails in the evening, reading romance novels, and learning about new cultures and languages.

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