Riz Ahmed

Riz Ahmed
Ahmed at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival
Born
Rizwan Ahmed

(1982-12-01) 1 December 1982
London, England
EducationMerchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Alma mater
  • Christ Church, Oxford
  • Royal Central School of Drama
Occupation
  • Actor
Years active2006–present
Spouse
Fatima Farheen
(m. 2020)
Children1
AwardsFull list
Musical career
Also known asRiz MC
Genres
  • Hip hop
  • political hip hop
  • British hip hop
  • alternative rap
  • conscious
  • qawwali
Years active2006–present
Labels
  • Battered[a]
  • Crosstown Rebels
  • Tru Thoughts
  • Customs
  • Mongrel[a]
Member ofSwet Shop Boys

Rizwan Ahmed (Urdu pronunciation: [ɾɪzˌwɑːn ˈɛɦˌməd̪]; born (1982-12-01)1 December 1982) is an English actor. He has received several awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award and an Academy Award, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two British Academy Film Awards. In 2017, he was named by Time as one of the most influential people in the world.[1]

After studying acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Ahmed began his acting career with independent films such as The Road to Guantanamo (2006), Shifty (2008), Four Lions (2010), Trishna (2011), and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012). He had his break-out role in Nightcrawler (2014), which led to roles in the 2016 big-budget films Jason Bourne and Rogue One. For starring as a young man accused of murder in the HBO miniseries The Night Of (2016), Ahmed won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series. He received another Emmy nomination in the same year for his guest role in Girls. He went on to play Carlton Drake in the superhero film Venom (2018) and a drummer who loses his hearing in the drama film Sound of Metal (2019). The latter earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He produced, co-wrote, and starred in Mogul Mowgli (2020), which earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film.

As a rapper, Ahmed is a member of the Swet Shop Boys, and has earned critical acclaim with the hip hop albums Microscope and Cashmere, and commercial success featuring in the Billboard 200 chart-topping Hamilton Mixtape, with his song "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" winning an MTV Video Music Award. His second studio album, The Long Goodbye, was accompanied by a short film of the same name, which won him the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

As an activist, Ahmed is known for his political rap music, has been involved in raising awareness and funds for Rohingya and Syrian refugee children, and has advocated BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) representation at the House of Commons.


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  1. ^ "Riz Ahmed: The World's 100 Most Influential People". Time. Retrieved 16 July 2017.