Riz Ahmed

Born on December 1, 1982 in Wembley, London, Riz Ahmed is a British actor with 48 film and TV credits. Many viewers know him as Bodhi Rook in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and as Carlton Drake / Riot in Venom (2018). Earlier in his career, he appeared as Omar in Four Lions (2010), Tarak in Centurion (2010) and Rick in Nightcrawler (2014).

On television, he played Nasir ‘Naz’ Khan in The Night Of (2016) and Elias Rahim in The OA (2016). His film work also includes Jason Bourne (2016), The Sisters Brothers (2018), Sound of Metal (2020) as Ruben Stone, and the voice of Ballister Boldheart in Nimona (2023). He received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie in 2017 and an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2022. His latest film is The Phoenician Scheme (2025), where he plays Prince Farouk.

Frequent co-stars

• Mathieu Amalric · 2 films together: The Phoenician Scheme, Sound of Metal
• Julia Stiles · 2 films together: Jason Bourne, Closed Circuit
• Jake Gyllenhaal · 2 films together: Nightcrawler, The Sisters Brothers

Awards won

• Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film (2022)
• Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (2017)

Nominations

• Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film (2022)
• Academy Award for Best Actor (2021)

Career at a glance

First credit: The Road to Guantanamo (2006) · Credits: 45

Roles played

Titles reviewed on Drama4U

• Digger2026 · Dr. Nirav GaneshReviewed

Other work

• Bait2026 · Shah Latif
• Hamlet2026 · Hamlet
• Relay2025 · Ash
• The Phoenician Scheme2025 · Prince Farouk
• Fingernails2023 · Amir
• Dammi2023 · Mounir
• Nimona2023 · Ballister Boldheart (voice)
• Encounter2021 · Malik Khan
• The Long Goodbye2021 · Riz
• Lines2021
• Sound of Metal2020 · Ruben Stone
• Mogul Mowgli2020 · Zed
• Venom2018 · Carlton Drake / Riot
• The Sisters Brothers2018 · Hermann Kermit Warm
• Una2017 · Scott
• The OA2016 · Elias Rahim
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story2016 · Bodhi Rook
• City of Tiny Lights2016 · Tommy Akhtar
• Jason Bourne2016 · Aaron Kalloor

Images: TMDB · Posters belong to their respective copyright holders and are shown only to identify the work and for review purposes

Profile based on TMDB and Wikidata facts and checked against public sources. Career information only.