Riz Ahmed is a 2021 Oscar, Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA Award nominee for his performance in Amazon Prime Video’s SOUND OF METAL, directed by Darius Marder. Ahmed won the NBR and IFP Gotham Awards for Best Actor, more than fourteen 2021 critics groups, and was named British/Irish Actor of the Year (2020 London Critics’ Circle Awards), since the film’s premiere at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival. Left Handed Film, Ahmed’s production company, signed a first-look TV deal with Amazon Studios. In the works are EXIT WEST for Netflix, in partnership with the Obamas; Higher Ground Productions and Russo, AGBO, and a modern take on Hamlet, which Ahmed co-wrote.
 

MOGUL MOWGLI, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Fipresci International Critics’ Prize, marks Left Handed’s feature film debut, co-written/starring/produced by Ahmed and directed by Bassam Tariq. The film, streaming in the UK and releasing in the U.S. later this year, was nominated for Outstanding British Film (2021 EE BAFTA Awards) and Ahmed was named Best Debut Screenwriter (2020 BIFA Awards). Ahmed next stars opposite Octavia Spencer in Amazon’s sci-fi thriller INVASION. He became one of Hollywood’s most sought-after artists following the explosive success of HBO’s THE NIGHT OF, written and created by the legendary Steven Zaillan for which he won an Emmy Award, and was Golden Globe and SAG nominated. He went on to star in successful feature films including Disney’s ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, Jacques Audiard’s THE SISTERS BROTHERS, and Sony/Marvel’s VENOM. He first garnered industry attention in festival favorites FOUR LIONS and NIGHTCRAWLER.
 

Ahmed’s musical journey spans two decades across rap, techno, residencies, a successful American band Swet Shop Boys, and most recently, critically acclaimed “The Long Goodbye,” accompanied by a short film of the same name. This short, that Ahmed wrote, produced, and starred in, was named British/Irish Short Film of the Year (2020 London Critics’ Circle Awards) and Best British Short Film (2020 BIFA Awards).
 

As an inclusion advocate, Ahmed published an award-winning piece in the Nikesh Shukla, described as “essential reading.” In 2017, he spoke at the British Parliament’s House of Commons about diversity and representation and graced TIME’s 100 Most Influential People cover.