Ian Paola was born on September 4th 1978 in New York City. As both of his parents were musicians, he grew up heavily influenced and inspired by many genres of music and hoped to one day make it in the entertainment industry.

Determined to follow in his parents footsteps and be involved in the music industry one way or another, he became inspired by the early Hip Hop music scene and began break dancing at the early age of 5. By the age of 11 Ian began writing & performing his own rap songs and by the age of 15 he began to DJ parties in his neighborhood. In his late teens he began producing, writing, recording and mixing songs for local talent. Throughout all this time, he always wanted to take a shot at acting but was always occupied with music production.

It wasn't until Ian was checking online looking for a quick paying weekend gig to make ends meet and came across an ad to do background work for a major Hollywood film. After spending countless hours on set, Ian realized that it was in front of the camera where he belonged and not in the back going unnoticed.

Wasting no time, Ian began training to work on his craft with some of the best coaches in New York City. He has appeared in over 30 projects which include film, television, new media & stage plays in less than two years taking on many roles including a heroin junkie, transvestite, New York Police officer and gangster to name a few. He continues to work on various projects & his recent credits include recurring roles as Yadriel on Netflix's "Orange Is The New Black", Rey Armas on ABC's "Conviction" & Uriel in Starz "Power".