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Riz Ahmed

Born 1982-12-01
📍 Wembley, London, England, UK

Rizwan "Riz" Ahmed (Urdu pronunciation: [ɾɪzˌwɑːnˈɛɦˌməd̪]; born 1 December 1982) is a British actor and rapper. He has received several awards, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, with nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two British Academy Film Awards. In 2017, he was named in the Time Listing of the most influential people in the world.

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' representation at the House of Commons.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Riz Ahmed, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography 66

Digger
2026
Bait
as Shah Latif
2026
Saturday Night Live UK
as Self - Host
2026
Hamlet
as Hamlet
2026
The Name of Action
as Self
2026
Together for Palestine
as Self
2025
Relay
as Ash
2025
The Phoenician Scheme
as Prince Farouk
2025
Fingernails
as Amir
2023
Dammi
as Mounir
2023
Nimona
as Ballister Boldheart (voice)
2023
Encounter
as Malik Khan
2021
The Long Goodbye
as Riz
2021
Lines
2021
Sound of Metal
as Ruben Stone
2020
Mogul Mowgli
as Zed
2020
The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan
as Self
2019
Venom
as Carlton Drake / Riot
2018
The Sisters Brothers
as Hermann Kermit Warm
2018
The Big Narstie Show
as Self
2018
The Stories: The Making of 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'
as Self
2017
Una
as Scott
2017
The OA
as Elias Rahim
2016
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
as Bodhi Rook
2016
City of Tiny Lights
as Tommy Akhtar
2016
Jason Bourne
as Aaron Kalloor
2016
The Night Of
as Nasir 'Naz' Khan
2016
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
as Self - Guest
2015
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
as Self
2015
The Late Late Show with James Corden
as Self
2015
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
as Self
2014
Nightcrawler
as Rick
2014
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
as Self
2014
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
as Self - Guest
2014
Off Camera with Sam Jones
as Self
2014
Out of Darkness
as Male
2013
Closed Circuit
as Nazrul Sharma
2013
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
as Changez
2013
Ill Manors
as Aaron
2012
Girls
as Paul-Louis
2012
Black Gold
as Ali
2011
Trishna
as Jay
2011
The Jonathan Ross Show
as Self
2011
Four Lions
as Omar
2010
Centurion
as Tarak
2010
10 Minute Tales
as Joseph
2009
Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam
as Self
2009
Rage
as Vijay
2009
Freefall
as Gary
2009
Dead Set
as Riq Rahman
2008
Shifty
as Shifty
2008
Wired
as Manesh Kunzru
2008
Britz
as Sohail Wahid
2007
Britz
as Sohail
2007
The Graham Norton Show
as Self
2007
The Path to 9/11
as Yosri
2006
Banglatown Banquet
as Razual
2006
The Road to Guantanamo
as Shafiq
2006
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
as Self - Musical Guest
2003
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
as Self
2003
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
as Self - Guest
2003
The Daily Show
as Self
1996
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
as Self
1988
The Oscars
as Self
1953
Exit West
as Saeed
Chocolate Rain: The Tay Zonday Story
as Jawed Karim