Riz Ahmed is an award-winning British actor and rapper who is famous for appearing in the action film “Jason Bourne”, and played Bodhi Rook in the Star Wars Anthology film “Rogue One”. He is also well-known for his work which includes The Road to Guantanamo (2006), Shifty (2008), Four Lions (2010), Trishna (2011), Ill Manors (2012), and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013), as well as television series such as Britz (2007) and Dead Set (2008), before his breakout role in the film Nightcrawler (2014) and The Night Of (2016). He is also known for his political rap music, has been involved in raising awareness and funds for Rohingya and Syrian refugee children, and has advocated for representation at the House of Commons. He made his theatrical film debut in the docudrama movie, “The Road to Guantanamo” in 2006. He made his first TV show appearance in the ABC miniseries, “The Path to 9/11” in 2006. In the year 2011, he released his solo debut studio album, “Microscope”. His hip-hop group, Swet Shop Boys released their debut studio album, “Cashmere” in 2016. As a musician, he was formerly known by his stage name Riz MC. Moving towards his accolades, he has won a Primetime Emmy Award, National Board of Review Award for Best Actor, Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead, London Film Critics’ Circle Award for British Actor of the Year, and received nominations for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three British Independent Film Awards. He is nicknamed Riz, Riz MC.
Riz Ahmed said “You don’t often see a South Asian family in a genre film”
Riz Ahmed has said “you don’t often see a family that looks like this, in a movie like this” as he discussed his role as a father racing to save his children in the new sci-fi road movie “Encounter”. In the film, he plays an ex-Marine battling to save his young sons from a virus, possibly triggered when an asteroid crashed into the earth, and their already infected mother, in the new film from Beast director Michael Pearce. The film sees his character, Malik Kahn, embark on a road trip with his two young sons in a bid to get them to safety as they face confrontations with gun-toting white police officers and vigilantes. Pearce said Malik’s ethnicity was not specified within the script, but the fact Ahmed is of Pakistani descent adds a new dimension to those scenes and there is an escalated level of tension. Riz told the PA news agency: “I think it’s one of those things where it wasn’t a focus, but whenever you cast any actor in a role, they bring certain things with them. “And I think it just emerged as we were shooting it. We realized that actually, you don’t often see a family that looks like this, in a movie like this, in a story like this, in situations like this. “What does that add? How does that challenge the audience? How does that add new layers and texture?” Peace continued: “The character’s ethnicity was never decided in the script, so a lot of those encounters were already there. “Encounter” is released in UK cinemas on December 3 and is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video from December 10.
What is Riz Ahmed Famous For?
- Being a British Rapper and Actor
- For the lead role in the political thriller drama movie, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” as well as in the crime drama HBO miniseries, “The Night Of”.
- For his role as Bodhi Rook in “Rogue One” as well as in “Jason Bourne” as a supporting role.
- For his stage performances such as in the Asian Dub Foundation opera Gaddafi.
Source: @instagram.com/rizahmed
What is Riz Ahmed Religion? Know About His Nationality, Family, and Birth Name
Riz Ahmed was born with the birth name of Rizwan Ahmen on 1st December 1982. He is from London, England. Thus, he holds British nationality. He belongs to Mixed ethnicity as he has Muhajir ancestry. Muhajirs are the Muslims who emigrated from India to Pakistan during the partition. His parents moved to England from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, during the 1970s. He is a descendant of Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman, the first Muslim to become the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court during the British rule in India. His parents’ details have not been revealed yet. Only it is known that his father is a shipping broker. He spent his childhood/early life with his sibling; a brother named Kamran Ahmed who is a Psychiatrist. Sadly, his aunt and uncle of Ahmed died during the COVID-19 pandemic. He cut his 38th birthday as of 2020. By religion, he is Muslim and his Zodiac sign is Sagittarius.
Source: @instagram.com/rizahmed
Focusing on his educational background, Riz attended Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood where he got admission via a scholarship program. Next, he enrolled at the Christ Church, Oxford University, and graduated with a degree in PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics). Additionally, he studied acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Riz Ahmed Acting Career
- Riz Ahmed’s career started after playing the part of Shafiq Rasul in the Michael Winterbottom film 2006.
- Next, he portrayed Sohail Waheed in the Channel 4 drama, “Britz” in the year 2007, portrayed Riq in the five-part horror thriller “Dead Set” as well as he portrayed Manesh Kunzru in ITV1’s “Wired” in 2008.
- He played a primary school teacher in Staffroom Monologues for the specialist channel “Teachers TV” in 2008.
- After a year, he was seen in “Freefall”. Then, he featured in the title role of the 2009 independent film “Shifty”.
- He featured in the 2009 Sally Potter production of “Rage”; in 2010, he appeared in “Four Lions” and “Centurion”; in 2012, he was seen in “Ill Manors” and also appeared in “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” in the year 2013.
- Next, he appeared on the stage for the play “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train” and “Prayer Room”.
- He then directed and wrote a 2014 short film, “Daytimer” and appeared in Dan Gilroy’s “Nightcrawler” in the same year.
- He appeared in “Rogue One” in 2016 which was the first film in the new Star Wars anthology films.
- After that, he played the role of Nasir “Naz” Khan in the HBO miniseries “The Night Of” as well as he appeared in the final season of “Girls”.
- He starred in “Venom” as Carlton Drake, and also starred in “Englistan” which is an original TV series that was commissioned by BBC Two and Left Handed Films in 2018.
- In 2020, he starred in “Sound of Metal” and in 2021, Riz produced the animated documentary film “Flee” and appeared in “Mogul Mowgli”.
Source: @instagram.com/rizahmed
Riz Ahmed Music Career Timeline
- Riz Ahmed’s career began in his mid-teens after he appeared in freestyle rap battles.
- He is also co-founded the Hit & Run night in Oxford where he was a part of a 12-person jazz-house/electronica band called Confidential Collective.
- Also, he competed in and won many rap battle competitions.
- Furthermore, he competed as Riz MC on JumpOff TV’s “Spin the Mic” in the year 2006 where he beat contestants Stig and Skilla Mic.
- Then, he recorded a satirical social-commentary rap track entitled “Post 9/11 Blues” in 2006.
- Later on, he founded his own independent record label, Battered Records, officially releasing “Post 9/11 Blues” for the CD and MP3 formats in August 2006.
- After a year, he released his second single, the garage rap song “People Like People”.
- He played at the London Camp for Climate Action in August 2009.
- He released his debut album, “Microscope” in 2011.
- It was announced on 1st December 2011 stating that Riz MC had signed to Tru Thoughts, an independent label in Brighton.
- He released “Sour Times” from his debut album “Microscope”.
- He is half of the hip hop duo Swet Shop Boys along with Heems which was formed in 2014.
- In 2014, their debut release, “Swet Shop EP”, was released.
- On 14th October 2016, the group’s debut full-length effort, “Cashmere”.
- He then released a mixtape, “Englistan” in 2016 was featured on the song “Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)” in The Hamilton Mixtape, which topped the Billboard 200 chart.
- Riz’s audiobooks include “The Sandman” and “Assassin’s Creed: Gold” in 2020.
Source: @instagram.com/rizahmed
Riz Ahmed Awards and Achievements
- Independent Spirit Awards in 2021 for his work in “Sound of Metal”
- Primetime Emmy Awards for The Night Of in 2017
- Atlanta Film Critics Circle Award, Austin Film Critics Association Award, Columbus Film Critics Association Award, Georgia Film Critics Association, Gotham Awards, London Film Critics’ Circle, Toronto Film Critics Association, Seattle Film Critics Society, Satellite Awards, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, San Diego Film Critics Society for “Sound of Metal” in 2021
- Greater WNY Film Association, IndieWire Critics Poll, Sunset Film Circle for Sound of Metal in 2020
- Houston Film Critics Society for Sound of Metal in 2021
- Berlin International Film Festival for Ill Manors under the category of Shooting Star Award-Actor in 2012
- British Independent Film Awards for Mogul Mowgli and The Long Goodbye in 2021
- Columbus Film Critics Association for Shifty in 2008
- Gold Derby Awards for The Night Of in 2017
- MTV Video Music Awards for “Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)” in 2017
- Nashville Film Festival for Daytimer in 2014
- National Board of Review for Sound of Metal in 2021
- UK Asian Music Awards for “Post 9/11 Blues” in 2006
Who is Riz Ahmed Wife?
Riz Ahmed is a married man. He married his beautiful wife, Fatima Farheen Mirza. Riz revealed in January 2021 during an interview stating that he had secretly tied the knot with novelist, Fatima Mirza. As of today, the couple is living a happy life and there is no disturbances between them. They both are supportive of each other and their bond is going stronger with the passage of time. His sexual orientation is straight and he is not gay.
Source: @brides
What is Riz Ahmed Net Worth?
Riz Ahmed is a talented rapper as well as an actor whose net worth is estimated to be $3 Million as of 2021. He has made this fortune by appearing in TV shows, movies and releasing several tracks, songs as well as albums. Riz has not stated anything about his salary details, career earnings, and annual income to the public but there is no doubt in the mind of his followers that he is making a cool amount of money from his career. Additionally, he has used his social media activity to promote products and brands such as Nehru Jackets, Ami Alexandre Mattiussi, and Ode to Odd. His major source of wealth is from acting and rapping career. He is living a lavish lifestyle at present.
How tall is Riz Ahmed?
Riz Ahmed is a handsome and cool actor as well as a rapper whose body type is slim. He has a perfect height of 5 ft 8 in or 173 cm and his balanced body weight consists of 66 KG or 145.5 lbs. His hair color is dark brown whereas he can be seen with blonde highlights and colored hair. He has a pair of attractive dark brown eyes. He has a long and prominent nose. Overall, he has got a healthy body and he frequently does exercise to maintain his body. He also indulged in pilates and yoga.
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