Riz Ahmed

Biography

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.

Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

The Daily Show

The Graham Norton Show

The Late Late Show with James Corden

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

All Movies (42)

• Digger2026
• Hamlet2026 · as Hamlet
• The Name of Action2026 · as Self
• Together for Palestine2025 · as Self
• Relay2025 · as Ash
• The Phoenician Scheme2025 · as Prince Farouk
• Fingernails2023 · as Amir
• Dammi2023 · as Mounir
• Nimona2023 · as Ballister Boldheart (voice)
• Encounter2021 · as Malik Khan
• The Long Goodbye2021 · as Riz
• Lines2021
• Sound of Metal2020 · as Ruben Stone
• Mogul Mowgli2020 · as Zed
• Venom2018 · as Carlton Drake / Riot
• The Sisters Brothers2018 · as Hermann Kermit Warm
• The Stories: The Making of 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'2017 · as Self
• Una2017 · as Scott
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story2016 · as Bodhi Rook
• City of Tiny Lights2016 · as Tommy Akhtar
• Jason Bourne2016 · as Aaron Kalloor
• Nightcrawler2014 · as Rick
• Out of Darkness2013 · as Male
• Closed Circuit2013 · as Nazrul Sharma
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist2013 · as Changez
• Ill Manors2012 · as Aaron
• Black Gold2011 · as Ali
• Trishna2011 · as Jay
• Four Lions2010 · as Omar
• Centurion2010 · as Tarak
• Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam2009 · as Self
• Rage2009 · as Vijay
• Freefall2009 · as Gary
• Baghdad Express2008 · as Talal
• Shifty2008 · as Shifty
• Britz2007 · as Sohail Wahid
• Banglatown Banquet2006 · as Razual
• The Road to Guantanamo2006 · as Shafiq
• Exit West— · as Saeed
• Violent Talent—
• Growth—
• The Big Fix—

All TV Shows (29)

• Bait2026 · as Shah Latif
• Saturday Night Live UK2026 · as Self - Host
• Behind The Mic: The Making of The Harry Potter Full-Cast Audio Editions2026 · as Himself
• The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan2019 · as Self
• The Big Narstie Show2018 · as Self
• The OA2016 · as Elias Rahim
• The Night Of2016 · as Nasir 'Naz' Khan
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert2015 · as Self - Guest
• Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter2015 · as Self
• The Late Late Show with James Corden2015 · as Self
• Variety Studio: Actors on Actors2014 · as Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon2014 · as Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon2014 · as Self - Guest
• Off Camera with Sam Jones2014 · as Self
• Girls2012 · as Paul-Louis
• The Jonathan Ross Show2011 · as Self
• 10 Minute Tales2009 · as Joseph
• Dead Set2008 · as Riq Rahman
• Wired2008 · as Manesh Kunzru
• Britz2007 · as Sohail
• The Graham Norton Show2007 · as Self
• The Path to 9/112006 · as Yosri
• The Play's the Thing2006
• The Ellen DeGeneres Show2003 · as Self - Musical Guest
• Jimmy Kimmel Live!2003 · as Self
• Jimmy Kimmel Live!2003 · as Self - Guest
• The Daily Show1996 · as Self
• LIVE with Kelly and Mark1988 · as Self
• The Oscars1953 · as Self