2014
Nightcrawler
Played Rick.
FLM.REDRIZ
AHMED
ริซ อาห์เหม็ด
Acting, music and stories of belonging
British actor and rapper known for The Night Of and Sound of Metal.
Wembley, London, UK
Moving between independent film and music
Riz Ahmed is a British actor and rapper born in Wembley, London, on 1 December 1982. He studied at Oxford and later trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
His early screen work included independent films such as Shifty and Four Lions, followed by a role in Nightcrawler. On television, his performance in The Night Of earned him an Emmy.
In Sound of Metal, Ahmed played Ruben, a drummer confronting hearing loss, and received an Oscar nomination for leading actor. The Long Goodbye, a short film he co-wrote and starred in, won the Academy Award for live-action short film.
Alongside acting, he has worked in music, including as part of Swet Shop Boys. In Digger (2026), he plays Ganesh.
The films below are those available on FLM.RED, not his complete filmography.
Selected work
2016
The Night Of
Won an Emmy for his performance.
2019
Sound of Metal
Played Ruben and received an Oscar nomination.
2020
The Long Goodbye
Co-wrote and starred in the Oscar-winning short.
2026
Digger
Played Ganesh.
Performance readings are FLM.RED editorial interpretation.
Films in FLM.RED
Titles in this collection; not a complete filmography.
Sources & image notes
- Golden Globes — Biography
- Television Academy — Awards
- Academy — Sound of Metal nomination
- London Museum — Career and The Long Goodbye
- Filmfare — Digger interview
Portrait illustration: FLM.RED.