Riz Ahmed

Rizwan Ahmed, born 1 December 1982, is a British actor and rapper. He has received numerous accolades throughout his career, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, alongside nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two British Academy Film Awards. In 2017, Time named him one of the most influential people in the world. He made his television writing debut in 2018 when he created the BBC series Englistan.

Ahmed was born in Wembley, London, to a British Pakistani family of Muhajir background whose parents immigrated from Karachi, Pakistan, during the 1970s. He attended Merchant Taylors' School on a scholarship before graduating from Christ Church, Oxford University, with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. While at Oxford, he organized events celebrating diverse cultures to counter the dominant environment. He later pursued formal drama training at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

His acting career began with independent film roles, starting with his debut in Michael Winterbottom's The Road to Guantánamo (2006). He followed this with performances in films such as Shifty (2008), Four Lions (2010), Trishna (2011), and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012). Ahmed achieved a major career breakthrough in the 2014 thriller Nightcrawler, which led to prominent roles in major feature films, including Jason Bourne and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in 2016.

In 2016, Ahmed played the lead role of Nasir "Naz" Khan in the HBO miniseries The Night Of, earning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. In the same year, he earned an Emmy nomination for a guest role in Girls. He subsequently starred as Carlton Drake and Riot in the superhero film Venom (2018) and portrayed a drummer experiencing hearing loss in the 2019 drama Sound of Metal, a role that garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Ahmed produced, co-wrote, and starred in the 2020 film Mogul Mowgli, which earned a BAFTA nomination and won him a British Independent Film Award for best debut screenwriter. He executive produced the animated documentary film Flee (2021), voiced Ballister Boldheart in Nimona (2023), and appeared in Fingernails (2023). In 2026, he wrote, executive produced, and starred in the limited series Bait, securing his second Emmy nomination.

Alongside his acting, Ahmed has maintained a acclaimed music career as a rapper, initially performing as Riz MC. He released satirical tracks such as "Post 9/11 Blues" and albums including Microscope and Cashmere, the latter as part of the hip-hop group Swet Shop Boys. He featured on the chart-topping Hamilton Mixtape, winning an MTV Video Music Award for "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)". His album The Long Goodbye was adapted into a short film that won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.