Riz Ahmed Acts His Way Out of Every Cultural Pigeonhole

August 30, 2018 9:18 AM

From HBO to ‘Star Wars’ to Shakespeare, he has discovered how to excel beyond tidy genres. [slNYT]
posted by ellieBOA (10 comments total)

I *really* did not like that website header with the image of Riz slowly looking up to make eye contact with me through a webpage.

I'm not too familiar with this actor, I unfortunately did see Rogue One, but have already done my best to forget it. Four Lions, however, was fantastic. This is an interesting person, I'll have to pay more attention to them moving forward. The anecdote about him working on Girls and maintaining an American accent even off set really makes me like him, that cracks me up. I'm excited to check out some of his music as well, especially the song banned on radio in UK.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:41 AM on August 30, 2018

He is like someone very smart who also cares a lot. He is like someone who doesn’t want to be misunderstood.

He's like that? or He is that? or what?
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:51 AM on August 30, 2018

Being that is also being like that.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:53 AM on August 30, 2018

i am out of free articles so i will read this tomorrow but i will say TODAY that i love him and he is delightful.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:44 AM on August 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

I think the “is like someone” is wholly intentional and is the theme of the article: how we see ourselves, present ourselves, and how others see us and what the expect of us.

Anyway, I got highly distracted by the Orthodox French Zombie Jeep. The twins from France! Available for Mitzvahs!
posted by Missense Mutation at 11:13 AM on August 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the Twins From France look fun but they need a friend who can help them out installing a wordpress theme.
posted by Damienmce at 12:13 PM on August 30, 2018

Viewers of HBO’s Girls will of course be away of Riz as the plucky Rebel surfer who fights the earthbound Kylo Ren for Lena Dunham’s heart.
posted by Artw at 2:38 PM on August 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ahmed seems really interesting but the writing style leaves a lot to be desired.
posted by reductiondesign at 2:56 PM on August 30, 2018

Ah, love this man - a grand actor, who comes across as a very endearing person too. I found his following snippet from WIRED's 'Rogue One Stars Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions' video rather amusing:

"'Does Riz Ahmed drink alcohol?' That sounds like that's what my mum's been Googling! That's so depressing. Why don't I have fans? Why is it just my family members Googling me to find out how religiously observant I am?!"
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 4:07 PM on August 30, 2018

Riz Ahmed is one of those actors whose presence in something will make me consider watching it sight unseen. He’s really good at bringing the viewer into the emotional and mental space he’s occupying, sometimes in very purposefully uncomfortable ways (I’m thinking of The Night Of here, which I could ultimately take or leave but which he carried impeccably), in part because he has a very expressive face but mostly because he’s clearly very talented. I’m happily not surprised by how thoughtfully he comes across in this article as a person.
posted by invitapriore at 5:21 PM on August 30, 2018