Riz Ahmed

Acting

Riz Ahmed

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

Rizwan Ahmed (born 1 December 1982) is a British actor and rapper. He has received several awards, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy 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. He also created the TV series Englistan in 2018 for the BBC, which was also his writing debut. 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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Riz Ahmed, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Venom poster
6.8

Investigative journalist Eddie Brock attempts a comeback following a scandal, but accidentally becomes the host of Venom, a violent, super powerful alien symbiote. Soon, he must rely on his newfound powers to protect the world from a shadowy organization looking for a symbiote of their own.

Venom

2018

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story poster
7.5

A rogue band of resistance fighters unite for a mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring a new hope to the galaxy.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

2016

Nightcrawler poster
7.7

When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.

Nightcrawler

2014

The Phoenician Scheme poster
6.5

Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

The Phoenician Scheme

2025

Jason Bourne poster
6.4

The most dangerous former operative of the CIA is drawn out of hiding to uncover hidden truths about his past.

Jason Bourne

2016

Relay poster
7.0

A broker of lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten them breaks his own rules when a new client seeks his protection to stay alive.

Relay

2025

Digger poster
NR

The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior before the disaster he's unleashed destroys everything.

Digger

2026

Closed Circuit poster
5.9

A high-profile terrorism case unexpectedly binds together two ex-lovers on the defense team - testing the limits of their loyalties and placing their lives in jeopardy.

Closed Circuit

2013

Sound of Metal poster
7.7

Metal drummer Ruben begins to lose his hearing. When a doctor tells him his condition will worsen, he thinks his career and life is over. His girlfriend Lou checks the former addict into a rehab for the deaf hoping it will prevent a relapse and help him adapt to his new life. After being welcomed and accepted just as he is, Ruben must choose between his new normal and the life he once knew.

Sound of Metal

2020

Centurion poster
6.2

Britain, A.D. 117. Quintus Dias, the sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus' legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the Earth and destroy their leader, Gorlacon.

Centurion

2010

The Sisters Brothers poster
6.8

Oregon, 1851. Hermann Kermit Warm, a chemist and aspiring gold prospector, keeps a profitable secret that the Commodore wants to know, so he sends the Sisters brothers, two notorious assassins, to capture him on his way to California.

The Sisters Brothers

2018

Fingernails poster
6.0

Anna and Ryan have found true love together. It's been proven by a controversial test. There's just one problem: Anna still isn't sure. Then she meets Amir.

Fingernails

2023

Nimona poster
7.9

A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence.

Nimona

2023

Four Lions poster
7.0

Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point. As the wheels fly off, and their competing ideologies clash, what emerges is an emotionally engaging (and entirely plausible) farce.

Four Lions

2010

Mogul Mowgli poster
6.3

Zed, a young British rapper, is about to start his first world tour, when a crippling illness strikes him down, forcing him to move back in with his family. He tries to find himself between an international music career and Pakistani family traditions.

Mogul Mowgli

2020

Encounter poster
6.3

A decorated Marine goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from an unhuman threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.

Encounter

2021

The Reluctant Fundamentalist poster
6.6

In New York, a Pakistani native finds that his American Dream has collapsed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

2013

Black Gold poster
6.5

On the Arabian Peninsula in the 1930s, two warring leaders come face to face. The victorious Nesib, Emir of Hobeika, lays down his peace terms to rival Amar, Sultan of Salmaah. The two men agree that neither can lay claim to the area of no man’s land between them called The Yellow Belt. In return, Nesib adopts Amar’s two boys Saleeh and Auda as a guarantee against invasion. Twelve years later, Saleeh and Auda have grown into young men. Saleeh, the warrior, itches to escape his gilded cage and return to his father’s land. Auda cares only for books and the pursuit of knowledge. One day, their adopted father Nesib is visited by an American from Texas. He tells the Emir that his land is blessed with oil and promises him riches beyond his wildest imagination. Nesib imagines a realm of infinite possibility, a kingdom with roads, schools and hospitals all paid for by the black gold beneath the barren sand. There is only one problem. The precious oil is located in the Yellow Belt.

Black Gold

2011

Hamlet poster
5.4

When Hamlet returns for his father’s funeral, he is stunned to discover his uncle Claudius is marrying his newly widowed mother. Visited by his father’s ghost, Hamlet learns his brutal murder was at the hands of Claudius - and spirals into a quest for vengeance that exposes the rot at the heart of the family’s empire and threatens his own sanity.

Hamlet

2026

City of Tiny Lights poster
5.2

In the teeming, multicultural metropolis of modern-day London, a seemingly straightforward missing-person case launches a down-at-heel private eye into a dangerous world of religious fanaticism and political intrigue.

City of Tiny Lights

2016

The Stories: The Making of 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' poster
6.1

The Stories: The Making of 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' is a 2017 documentary detailing the production of the standalone Star Wars film. The featurette explores the creative process, behind-the-scenes challenges, and collaborative efforts of the cast and crew in bringing Rogue One to the screen.

The Stories: The Making of 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'

2017

The Name of Action poster
NR

A look at why Hamlet, a play that’s over 400 years old, holds a mirror up to society today. Filmed across four days of workshops with youth theatre groups across London: The Big House, Bush Theatre Young Companies, Centre 59, and Open Door.

The Name of Action

2026

Una poster
6.0

When a young woman unexpectedly arrives at an older man's workplace, looking for answers, the secrets of the past threaten to unravel his new life.

Una

2017

Trishna poster
5.9

When her father is killed in a road accident, Trishna's family expect her to provide for them. The rich son of an entrepreneur starts to restlessly pursue her affections, but are his intentions as pure as they seem?

Trishna

2011

Behind the camera