Who Is Arabella Sezen Oz? The Extraordinary Life of Dr. Mehmet Oz’s Daughter

Arabella Sezen Oz is the daughter of Dr. Mehmet Oz, the television personality and heart surgeon who now serves as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and his wife, author Lisa Oz. While her father built his career in medicine, television, and now government, Arabella has carved out her own path across filmmaking, acting, and mental health work.

This article looks at what is reliably known about Arabella Sezen Oz, her education, her creative career, her family life, and how she has built an identity distinct from her famous father.

Arabella Sezen Oz: Quick Bio Table

Category	Details
Full Name	Arabella Sezen Oz
Known For	Daughter of Dr. Mehmet Oz; actress, filmmaker, and therapist
Parents	Dr. Mehmet Oz (father) and Lisa Oz (mother)
Education	Columbia University, filmmaking
Siblings	Daphne Oz, Zoe Oz, Oliver Oz
Career	Filmmaker, actress, and mental health therapist
Notable Roles	When the Starlight Ends (2016), Jigsaw (2017), Billionaire Boys Club (2018)
Spouse	Married cellist Nicholas Canellakis in 2024
Public Profile	Maintains privacy despite her family’s high public profile

Who Is Arabella Sezen Oz?

Arabella Sezen Oz is one of four children born to Dr. Mehmet Oz, the cardiothoracic surgeon who became a household name through his long-running television programme, and Lisa Oz, an author and television host in her own right. Unlike her father, whose public identity is built on decades of television appearances and, more recently, a significant political and government career, Arabella has pursued a quieter but genuinely creative path across film and mental health work.

She studied filmmaking at Columbia University, originally intending to work behind the camera as a director. During her studies, she took an acting class purely to improve how she communicated with performers as a future director, and unexpectedly discovered a passion for acting itself. That accidental discovery reshaped her early career considerably.

Since then, Arabella has built a career that spans acting, and more recently, work as a therapist focused on mental health, a combination that reflects both her creative instincts and a genuine interest in psychology and emotional wellbeing.

Dr. Mehmet Oz: The Father Behind the Family Name

To understand the level of public attention that follows Arabella, it helps to understand her father’s career. Dr. Mehmet Oz built his early reputation as a respected cardiothoracic surgeon before becoming a television personality through regular appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which led to his own long-running programme, The Dr. Oz Show.

His public profile expanded considerably beyond entertainment and medicine in more recent years. He ran for the United States Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022, and in 2025, the Senate confirmed him as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, placing him in charge of the federal agency overseeing healthcare coverage for tens of millions of Americans.

This trajectory, from surgeon to television host to national political figure, has meant that scrutiny of the wider Oz family, including his children, has only increased over time. Arabella’s own choice to build a career in acting and therapy, rather than medicine or media, stands out clearly against this backdrop.

His 2022 Senate campaign in Pennsylvania was closely watched nationally, partly because of his celebrity profile and partly because the race was seen as a bellwether contest in a key swing state. He narrowly lost that election, a result that briefly seemed to close the door on any further political ambitions before his surprise nomination and eventual Senate confirmation to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services years later. That confirmation process itself drew significant media coverage, given the unusual path from television personality to the head of an agency responsible for healthcare programmes covering a huge portion of the American population.

Lisa Oz: The Mother Behind the Family

Arabella’s mother, Lisa Oz, has built her own public career distinct from her husband’s, working as an author and television host in her own right. She has written extensively on relationships, spirituality, and wellbeing, and has appeared alongside her husband on various media projects over the years while also maintaining her own independent public identity. This dynamic, of both parents having genuine, separate public careers, appears to have shaped how Arabella and her siblings approached their own professional paths, none of them simply stepping into a role defined solely by their father’s fame.

Lisa Oz has occasionally spoken publicly about raising four children while both she and her husband maintained demanding careers, describing the importance of instilling independence and a strong sense of personal identity in each of their children. That approach seems reflected in how differently each of the Oz children’s careers have developed, spanning entertainment, business, medicine, and mental health work.

Arabella Sezen Oz’s Acting Career

Early Roles

Arabella’s acting career began in 2015, and her feature film debut came with When the Starlight Ends in 2016, in which she starred alongside Scottish actor Sam Heughan, known for his role in Outlander. Landing a lead role alongside an already well-established actor represented a significant early opportunity for someone just starting out in film.

She went on to appear in the 2017 horror film Jigsaw, part of the long-running Saw franchise, and the 2018 drama Billionaire Boys Club, which featured a notable ensemble cast. These roles, spanning horror and drama, showed a willingness to take on varied projects rather than settling into a single genre early in her career.

Her Father’s Reaction to Her Work

Dr. Oz has spoken publicly and warmly about his daughter’s acting work, attending at least one film festival screening in 2017 to support her. He described Arabella as “the kindest” of his children, adding that she “taps into deeper emotions” in her performances, a specific and personal observation that suggested he had watched her work closely rather than offering only generic praise.

This kind of public support from a famous parent can cut both ways for a young actor, offering visibility but also inviting comparisons and scrutiny that a performer without famous relatives would not face. Arabella has continued working steadily despite this added layer of attention.

Arabella Sezen Oz’s Transition to Therapy

In more recent years, Arabella has moved into mental health work, training and working as a therapist. This shift represents a significant departure from acting, requiring an entirely different set of qualifications and a very different day-to-day professional life.

She has used social media platforms to discuss her approach to therapy and mental health topics more broadly, engaging with an audience interested in psychological wellbeing rather than her family’s fame. At the same time, she has kept many personal details private, a balance that reflects the particular challenges of being a public-facing mental health professional while also being the daughter of one of America’s most recognisable media doctors.

This career move also connects meaningfully to her family background. Growing up with a father whose entire public career has centred on health and wellness, in his case physical and cardiac health, appears to have shaped Arabella’s own interest in wellbeing, even as she approaches it from a psychological rather than medical angle.

Mental health advocacy has become an increasingly visible field within wider public conversations in recent years, and Arabella’s decision to build a genuine professional practice, rather than simply commenting on the subject casually through social media, reflects a level of commitment beyond using her platform for visibility alone. She has spoken about wanting her clients to feel they are working with someone who has pursued the proper training and credentials, rather than someone trading solely on a recognisable surname.

Her path from film school to acting to clinical therapy work also illustrates a broader pattern sometimes seen among people who grow up in highly public families: a search for meaningful, hands-on work that offers a sense of direct impact, in contrast to the more performance-oriented nature of television and film. For Arabella, therapy appears to offer exactly that kind of grounded, one-to-one connection with the people she works with.

Family Life and Marriage

Arabella married cellist Nicholas Canellakis in 2024. Dr. Oz celebrated the wedding publicly on social media, describing Canellakis as his daughter’s “creative match” and highlighting their shared values around community and creative work. A professional cellist marrying into a family known for television and, more recently, government service, adds another interesting dimension to the wider Oz family story.

Arabella maintains close relationships with her three siblings: Daphne Oz, an author and television host who has built her own successful media career, including stints as a co-host on The Chew and appearances on various cooking programmes, and who has four children of her own; Zoe Oz, who works as a chief marketing officer at a technology startup; and Oliver Oz, who is pursuing a career in medicine, following most directly in his father’s professional footsteps. The four siblings reportedly vacation together regularly and often share content that reflects a close, connected family unit despite their varied and independent careers.

Family gatherings, according to occasional social media posts from various family members, tend to centre on shared meals and time spent together rather than public appearances, suggesting the Oz siblings have deliberately kept a meaningful portion of their family life away from the more public-facing aspects of their father’s career.

Why People Search for Arabella Sezen Oz

Interest in Arabella Sezen Oz tends to rise alongside renewed attention on her father, particularly following his confirmation as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2025, a role that placed him back in national headlines after his unsuccessful 2022 Senate campaign. Readers curious about Dr. Oz’s family life often want to know what each of his children has gone on to do.

Others come across Arabella’s name specifically through her acting work, particularly fans of the Saw franchise or of Sam Heughan, who search for information about her after watching one of her films. Because Arabella keeps much of her personal life private despite her public-facing acting and therapy work, curiosity about her continues even though she has never sought the same level of fame as her father.

Readers on our site researching political appointees and their families have also shown steady interest in Arabella’s story, since her father’s move from television medicine into a senior federal health role is a genuinely unusual career path that naturally raises questions about the wider family behind it.

Conclusion

Arabella Sezen Oz has built a genuinely independent career across film and mental health work, distinct from her father’s path in medicine, television, and now federal government. Her journey from an aspiring filmmaker to an actress, and later to a working therapist, reflects a willingness to follow her own creative and professional instincts rather than her family’s more medically focused legacy. Her marriage to cellist Nicholas Canellakis and her close relationships with her siblings round out a picture of someone who has stayed connected to her prominent family while still carving out a clearly separate identity of her own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Arabella Sezen Oz? Arabella Sezen Oz is the daughter of Dr. Mehmet Oz and Lisa Oz. She is an actress, filmmaker, and mental health therapist who has built a career independent of her father’s medical and television background.

What films has Arabella Sezen Oz appeared in? Arabella has appeared in When the Starlight Ends (2016) alongside Sam Heughan, Jigsaw (2017), and Billionaire Boys Club (2018).

Did Arabella Sezen Oz study filmmaking? Yes. She studied filmmaking at Columbia University, originally planning to direct before discovering a passion for acting during a class taken to improve her directing skills.

Who are Arabella Sezen Oz’s siblings? She has three siblings: Daphne Oz, an author and television host; Zoe Oz, a technology company marketing executive; and Oliver Oz, who is pursuing a career in medicine.

Is Arabella Sezen Oz married? Yes. She married cellist Nicholas Canellakis in 2024, a union her father publicly celebrated, describing Canellakis as her “creative match.”

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