RIZ AHMED BIOGRAPHY - AGE, CAREER, MOVIES & FACTS

Riz Ahmed is a British actor and rapper of British Pakistani descent, born Rizwan Ahmed on 1 December 1982 in Wembley, England. An Oscar and Emmy winner, he is best known for The Night Of, Sound of Metal, Rogue One, Venom, and now Digger.

From an Oxford scholarship to the stages of Hollywood, Riz Ahmed's career has been defined by fearless choices across film, television, music, and writing. This biography looks at his age, career, biggest movies, and the key facts behind his rise to global stardom.

Early Life

Rizwan Ahmed was born on 1 December 1982 in Wembley, London, to British Pakistani parents. He won a scholarship to Oxford University, where he earned a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) in 2002. He then trained as an actor at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, setting the stage for his screen career.

Career

Ahmed's early films included the independent dramas The Road to Guantanamo (2006), Shifty (2008), Four Lions (2010), Trishna (2011), and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012). His international breakout came with the thriller Nightcrawler (2014), followed by big-studio turns in Jason Bourne (2016) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).

Television brought his defining role: the HBO miniseries The Night Of (2016), for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series — the first Muslim actor and the first man of South Asian descent to win an acting Emmy. He was Emmy-nominated again that same year for a guest role in Girls. He then played Carlton Drake in Venom (2018), earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor as a drummer losing his hearing in Sound of Metal (2019), and produced, co-wrote, and starred in Mogul Mowgli (2020), which earned a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding British Film.

Music and Writing

Ahmed is also an accomplished rapper: a member of the hip-hop duo Swet Shop Boys and the artist behind the solo albums Microscope and Cashmere. He was featured on the Billboard 200 chart-topping Hamilton Mixtape, where his track "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" won an MTV Video Music Award. His second studio album, The Long Goodbye, was accompanied by a short film that won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. As a writer, he created the BBC series Englistan (2018), his writing debut.

Recent Work

Ahmed's recent work includes co-starring with Tom Cruise in Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Digger (2026). Read our full coverage of the Digger (2026) movie, see how Tom Cruise's Digger hits theaters, and catch up on his co-star with our Tom Cruise biography.

Personal Life

Ahmed married novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza in 2020. He was named to the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people in 2017.

Watch the Official Video

Watch the official Digger trailer below, released on the official Warner Bros. YouTube channel:

FAQ

How old is Riz Ahmed?
Riz Ahmed was born on 1 December 1982, which makes him 43 years old as of October 2026.

What did he win the Oscar and Emmy for?
He won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for The Night Of (2016) and the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for The Long Goodbye; he was also Oscar-nominated for Best Actor for Sound of Metal.

What are his biggest movies?
His biggest movies include Nightcrawler, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Jason Bourne, Venom, Sound of Metal, and Mogul Mowgli.

Is Riz Ahmed also a musician?
Yes — he is a rapper, a member of Swet Shop Boys, and has released the solo hip-hop albums Microscope and Cashmere.