Riz Ahmed

Source: Bifas

Riz Ahmed

UK actor Riz Ahmed is to be honoured with the Richard Harris award by the British Independent Film Awards (Bifas).

The award honours actors who have contributed significantly to British films across their careers, with previous recipients including Glenda Jackson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Daniel Day-Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Ahmed was born in Wembley, London. His breakthrough role was in Michael Winterbottom’s 2006 film The Road To Guantánamo. In the same year, he was named a Screen Star of Tomorrow. He has starred in feature films Four Lions, Nightcrawler, Venom and Sound Of Metal, and TV series including The Night Of and The OA.

To date, he has been nominated for eight Bifas, and won the best debut screenwriter award for Mogul Mowgli, his first foray into feature film writing, in 2020.

Ahmed is an executive producer on Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary Flee, and is currently working on a film adaptation of author Mosin Hamid’s best-selling book Exit West, directed by Yann Demange, via his production company Left Handed.

He has also launched an initiative for Muslim representation in media, in partnership with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the Ford Foundation and Pillars Fund.

Ahmed is set to receive the award in-person at the Bifa 2021 ceremony on December 5.