Since he first exploded into our consciousness, Riz Ahmed has been one of Britain's most admired young actors and is fast becoming one of its most exciting exports. After graduating from both Oxford University and the Central School for Speech and Drama, he first shot to acclaim when he starred in Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross' documentary The Road to Guantanamo. The film won the 2006 Silver Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
In 2008, Ahmed's performance in Eran Creevy's Shifty won him the Best Actor Award at the Geneva International Film Festival and a British Independent Film Award (BIFA) nomination for Best Actor. He went on to film Sally Potter's Rage and Neil Marshall's Centurion before playing the role of Omar in Chris Morris' Four Lions, which consolidated his place at the center of British cinema. In addition to being in Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, Four Lions also garnered Ahmed a further BIFA nomination for Best Actor.
In 2012, Ahmed was honored as one of the Shooting Stars at the Berlin International Film Festival, and he received yet another BIFA nomination for his work in Ben Drew's Ill Manors. His other film credits include Jean-Jacques Annaud's Day of the Falcon, Winterbottom's Trishna, Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, John Crowley's Closed Circuit, Pete Travis' City of Tiny Lights, Benedict Andrews' Una and Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler, for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Male at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards and as Breakthrough Actor at the Gotham Awards.
Ahmed's television credits include Peter Kosminsky's BAFTA Award-winning and International Emmy Award-nominated drama Britz, Yann Demange's BAFTA Award-nominated drama Dead Set, Zal Batmanglij's The OA and Dominic Savage's Freefall. His theater credits include David Freeman's Gaddafi: A Living Myth, Shan Khan's Prayer Room and Sam Brown's Julius Caesar.
His first project as writer/director, Daytimer, competed for Best Narrative Short at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. He also has a successful musical career as Riz MC. His mixtape "Englistan" was released to critical acclaim in 2016, and his Swet Shop Boys album was released same year via Warp Records.
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