Riz Ahmed
Encyclopedia
Rizwan Ahmed also known as Riz Ahmed, the Rizmeister General, or Riz MC, is a British
MC, musician and actor
. He is noted for his lead performances in The Road to Guantanamo
, Shifty
, Britz
, and Four Lions
.
in Sindh
, Pakistan
, before emigrating to the United Kingdom
.
through a scholarship programme. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford
with a degree in PPE and studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama
.
film The Road to Guantanamo
in which he played the part of Shafiq Rasul
, a member of the Tipton Three
. Coincidentally, he and another actor involved in the film as well as two of the Tipton Three were detained at Luton Airport upon their return from the Berlin Film Festival where the film won a Silver Bear Award. Across his years as an actor he has also featured in various TV roles. He has played Sohail Waheed in the 2007 Channel 4
drama, Britz
. 2008 saw him perform as both Riq in the five-part horror thriller for E4, Dead Set
and Manesh Kunzru in ITV1's finance fraud drama Wired
. In July 2009 in appeared in Freefall alongside Sarah Harding
. Most notably, he featured in the title role of the 2009 independent film Shifty
by Eran Creevy. Ahmed plays the charismatic young drug dealer in the film which sees a life in the day of this character. He was nominated for Best Actor at the 2008 British Independent Film Awards for this role, alongside Colin Farrell
and Brendan Gleeson
.
Continuing his film career, he featured in the 2009 Sally Potter
production of Rage
and in 2010, in Chris Morris
' satire on terrorism, Four Lions
and Neil Marshall
's historical thriller Centurion
.
opera Gaddafi
and a starring role as psychotic serial-killer-turned-born-again-Christian Lucius in the Lighthouse Theatre's acclaimed production of Stephen Adly Guirgis
's Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train
(directed by Jack William Clift and Thomas Sweatman) as well as in Shan Khan's Prayer Room.
and Jim Sturgess
.
He was selected as a BBC Introducing
artist in 2007, playing the Glastonbury Festival
and the BBC Electric Proms
. He opened the Meltdown Festival with Bristol
-based trip-hop group Massive Attack
at the Royal Festival Hall
in 2008, and was appointed 'Emerging Artist in Residence' at the Southbank Centre in London. He played at the London Camp for Climate Action
in August 2009.
Rizwan also co-founded the Oxford
based night Hit & Run, which has since moved to Manchester
. Hit & Run has gone on to become one of Manchester's leading underground music events.
He released his debut album MICroscope in 2011.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
MC, musician and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He is noted for his lead performances in The Road to Guantanamo
The Road to Guantanamo
The Road to Guantanamo, alternatively The Road to Guantánamo, is a British 2006 docudrama directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross about the incarceration of three British detainees at a detainment camp in Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba...
, Shifty
Shifty (film)
Shifty is a British urban thriller, from writer/director Eran Creevy. Set on the outskirts of London, it follows themes of friendship and loyalty over the course of 24 hours in the life of a young drug dealer, the charismatic "Shifty", who is based on the original Shifty from...
, Britz
Britz (TV serial)
Britz is a two-part drama serial written and directed by BAFTA-winning director Peter Kosminsky and first screened by Channel 4 in the UK in October and November 2007....
, and Four Lions
Four Lions
Four Lions is a 2010 British satirical comedy film. It is the debut feature from director Chris Morris, written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. The film is a jihad satire following a group of homegrown Islamist terrorist jihadis from Sheffield, England.-Plot:A group of young Muslim men...
.
Ethnic background
Ahmed is a British Pakistani. Ahmed's parents belonged to KarachiKarachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
in Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, before emigrating to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Education
Ahmed attended Merchant Taylors' School, NorthwoodMerchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....
through a scholarship programme. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
with a degree in PPE and studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
.
Television and film
Ahmed's film career began in the Michael WinterbottomMichael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom is a prolific English filmmaker who has directed seventeen feature films in the past fifteen years. He began his career working in British television before moving into features...
film The Road to Guantanamo
The Road to Guantanamo
The Road to Guantanamo, alternatively The Road to Guantánamo, is a British 2006 docudrama directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross about the incarceration of three British detainees at a detainment camp in Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba...
in which he played the part of Shafiq Rasul
Shafiq Rasul
Shafiq Rasul is best known for being a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay by the United States, which treated him an unlawful combatant. His detainee ID number was 86....
, a member of the Tipton Three
Tipton Three
The Tipton Three is the collective name given to three men from Tipton, England, who were held in extrajudicial detention by the United States government for two years in Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba. Ruhal Ahmed was born on March 11, 1981;...
. Coincidentally, he and another actor involved in the film as well as two of the Tipton Three were detained at Luton Airport upon their return from the Berlin Film Festival where the film won a Silver Bear Award. Across his years as an actor he has also featured in various TV roles. He has played Sohail Waheed in the 2007 Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
drama, Britz
Britz (TV serial)
Britz is a two-part drama serial written and directed by BAFTA-winning director Peter Kosminsky and first screened by Channel 4 in the UK in October and November 2007....
. 2008 saw him perform as both Riq in the five-part horror thriller for E4, Dead Set
Dead Set (TV series)
Dead Set is a critically acclaimed BAFTA-nominated horror drama created by English writer Charlie Brooker.The series takes place primarily on the set of a fictional season of the real television show Big Brother...
and Manesh Kunzru in ITV1's finance fraud drama Wired
Wired (UK TV series)
Wired is a 2008 three-part television miniseries starring Jodie Whittaker, Laurence Fox and Toby Stephens. It debuted on ITV at 9:00pm on Monday 13 October, 2008 and was shown over three consecutive Mondays.- Plot summary :...
. In July 2009 in appeared in Freefall alongside Sarah Harding
Sarah Harding
Sarah Nicole Harding is an English singer-songwriter, actress and model best known for being a member of the pop group Girls Aloud, formed through ITV's reality television programme Popstars: The Rivals...
. Most notably, he featured in the title role of the 2009 independent film Shifty
Shifty (film)
Shifty is a British urban thriller, from writer/director Eran Creevy. Set on the outskirts of London, it follows themes of friendship and loyalty over the course of 24 hours in the life of a young drug dealer, the charismatic "Shifty", who is based on the original Shifty from...
by Eran Creevy. Ahmed plays the charismatic young drug dealer in the film which sees a life in the day of this character. He was nominated for Best Actor at the 2008 British Independent Film Awards for this role, alongside Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
and Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson
Brendan Gleeson is an Irish actor. His best-known films include Braveheart, Gangs of New York, In Bruges, 28 Days Later, the Harry Potter films, The Guard and the role of Michael Collins in The Treaty...
.
Continuing his film career, he featured in the 2009 Sally Potter
Sally Potter
Charlotte Sally Potter is an English film director and screenwriter.-Career:Having left school at sixteen to become a filmmaker, Potter joined the London Film-Makers' Co-op and started making experimental short films, including Jerk and Play...
production of Rage
Rage (2009 film)
Rage is a 2009 film written and directed by Sally Potter starring Jude Law and Judi Dench. The filmmakers said that the film created a new genre in filmmaking, called naked cinema.-Press releases:...
and in 2010, in Chris Morris
Chris Morris (satirist)
Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
' satire on terrorism, Four Lions
Four Lions
Four Lions is a 2010 British satirical comedy film. It is the debut feature from director Chris Morris, written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. The film is a jihad satire following a group of homegrown Islamist terrorist jihadis from Sheffield, England.-Plot:A group of young Muslim men...
and Neil Marshall
Neil Marshall
Neil Marshall is an English film director, editor and screenwriter. Marshall began his career in editing and in 2002 directed his first feature film Dog Soldiers, which became a cult film. He followed up with the critically acclaimed horror film The Descent in 2005...
's historical thriller Centurion
Centurion (film)
Centurion is a 2010 British action thriller film directed by Neil Marshall, loosely based on the supposed disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion in Caledonia in the second century CE. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Olga Kurylenko and Dominic West....
.
Stage
Ahmed played a role in the Asian Dub FoundationAsian Dub Foundation
Asian Dub Foundation are a British electronica band that plays a mix of rapcore, dub, dancehall and ragga, also using rock instruments, acknowledging a punk influence...
opera Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
and a starring role as psychotic serial-killer-turned-born-again-Christian Lucius in the Lighthouse Theatre's acclaimed production of Stephen Adly Guirgis
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Stephen Adly Guirgis is an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. He is a member and co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States....
's Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train
Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train
Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train is a theatrical production created by Stephen Adly Guirgis.-Plot synopsis:The play takes place in a prison setting, portraying two men who face murder charges.-Productions:...
(directed by Jack William Clift and Thomas Sweatman) as well as in Shan Khan's Prayer Room.
Music
In 2006, he released a satirical social-commentary rap track entitled "Post 9/11 Blues". The song was initially banned from British airplay because the lyrics were deemed ‘politically sensitive’. Other tracks he has released include "Sour Times" which was accompanied by a video featuring Scroobius Pip, Plan BPlan B (rapper)
Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew primarily known as Plan B or Ben Drew, is a British rapper, singer-songwriter, actor and film director from Forest Gate, London. Plan B first emerged as a hip hop artist releasing his critically acclaimed debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words in 2006...
and Jim Sturgess
Jim Sturgess
James Anthony "Jim" Sturgess is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His breakthrough role was appearing as Jude in the musical romance drama film Across the Universe .-Early life:...
.
He was selected as a BBC Introducing
BBC Introducing
BBC Introducing is the brand for new music programmes across the BBC radio stations, showcasing unsigned, self signed and other emerging musical talent primarily from the UK. Launched in 2007 the Introducing brand brings programming from across the BBC under a unified brand with each show retaining...
artist in 2007, playing the Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
and the BBC Electric Proms
BBC Electric Proms
The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms was an October music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006-2010...
. He opened the Meltdown Festival with Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
-based trip-hop group Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
at the Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
in 2008, and was appointed 'Emerging Artist in Residence' at the Southbank Centre in London. He played at the London Camp for Climate Action
Camp for Climate Action
The Camps for Climate Action are campaign gatherings that take place to draw attention to, and act as a base for direct action against, major carbon emitters, as well as to develop ways to create a zero-carbon society...
in August 2009.
Rizwan also co-founded the Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
based night Hit & Run, which has since moved to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. Hit & Run has gone on to become one of Manchester's leading underground music events.
He released his debut album MICroscope in 2011.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | The Path to 9/11 The Path to 9/11 The Path to 9/11 was a two-part miniseries that aired in the United States on ABC television from September 10 – 11, 2006, and also in other countries. The film dramatizes the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City and the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks.The film... |
TV film | |
| The Road to Guantanamo The Road to Guantanamo The Road to Guantanamo, alternatively The Road to Guantánamo, is a British 2006 docudrama directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross about the incarceration of three British detainees at a detainment camp in Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba... |
Shafiq | ||
| 2007 | Britz Britz (TV serial) Britz is a two-part drama serial written and directed by BAFTA-winning director Peter Kosminsky and first screened by Channel 4 in the UK in October and November 2007.... |
Sohail Wahid | TV film |
| For Better or Worse For Better or Worse (film) For Better or Worse is an American feature film from the year 1995. Written by Jeff Nathanson, it starred Jason Alexander, Lolita Davidovich, and James Woods. Alexander also directed the film, which saw a limited theatrical release.... |
Danny | ||
| 2008 | Dead Set Dead Set (TV series) Dead Set is a critically acclaimed BAFTA-nominated horror drama created by English writer Charlie Brooker.The series takes place primarily on the set of a fictional season of the real television show Big Brother... |
Riq | TV film |
| Shifty Shifty (film) Shifty is a British urban thriller, from writer/director Eran Creevy. Set on the outskirts of London, it follows themes of friendship and loyalty over the course of 24 hours in the life of a young drug dealer, the charismatic "Shifty", who is based on the original Shifty from... |
Shifty | Nominated for Best Actor at the British Independent Film Award Won Best Actor at the Geneva Cinéma Tout Ecran |
|
| 2009 | Freefall | Gary | TV film |
| Rage Rage (2009 film) Rage is a 2009 film written and directed by Sally Potter starring Jude Law and Judi Dench. The filmmakers said that the film created a new genre in filmmaking, called naked cinema.-Press releases:... |
Vijay | ||
| 2010 | Four Lions Four Lions Four Lions is a 2010 British satirical comedy film. It is the debut feature from director Chris Morris, written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. The film is a jihad satire following a group of homegrown Islamist terrorist jihadis from Sheffield, England.-Plot:A group of young Muslim men... |
Omar | |
| Centurion Centurion (film) Centurion is a 2010 British action thriller film directed by Neil Marshall, loosely based on the supposed disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion in Caledonia in the second century CE. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Olga Kurylenko and Dominic West.... |
Tarik | ||
| 2011 | Ill Manors Ill Manors Ill Manors is an upcoming British film. The film was written and directed by Ben Drew, starring Riz Ahmed, Nathalie Press and Dannielle Brent.-Plot:The film revolves around four main characters living in Forest Gate, London... |
TBA | |
| Trishna Trishna Trishna may refer to:* Tanha, the Buddhist concept of thirst or desire* Trishna , a drama directed and produced by Sippy Films in India* Trishna , a romance film directed by Pritam Jalan... |
Jay | ||
| 2012 | The Reluctant Fundamentalist | Changez |
Singles
- "The Post 9/11 Blues" (2006)
- "People Like People" (2007)
- "Radar" (2008)
- "Shifty" (with SwaySway DaSafoDerek Andrew Safo is a Ghanaian British musician who uses the stage names Sway DaSafo or Sway. He is signed to Akon's Konvict Muzik record label and he is also a producer, establishing DCypha Productions.-Childhood:...
& Plan B) (2009) - "Don't Sleep" (2009)
- "Hundreds and Thousands" (2010)
- "Get on It" (2010)
- "All of You" (2011)
External links
- Riz MC at BBC Maida Vale and Glastonbury
- Confidential Collective
- A short, sharp shock of a play The Telegraph
- When even actors aren't safe New Statesman
- Guardian piece on "Post 9/11 Blues"
- Google video of "Post 9/11 Blues"
- Official Shifty website
- Official Hit & Run website
- BBC Film Network: short films featuring Riz Ahmed