Ahmed, Reese

Ahmed was born into a British-Pakistani family of the so-called. Muhajirs , in London (Wembley area). His parents moved to England from the Pakistani city ​​of Karachi in the 1970s ^[2] . One of his relatives was Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman , “the first Indian judge appointed by the British in Uttar Pradesh ” ^[3] , he also showed interest in Urdu poetry and was the author of one of the first critical articles on the theory of relativity ^{[4] [5]} . In addition, Ahmed is a descendant of Mullah Mahmoud Yaunpuri (died in 1652), one of the most important scholars and philosophers of this region during the reign of the Mughal Empire ^[6] .

Ahmed attended Merchant Taylors' School . He later graduated from Christ Church with a degree in PVE ^[7] . Then he studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama ^[2] .

Ahmed began his acting career with Michael Winterbottom 's film " The Road to Guantanamo ", where he played the role of Shafik Rasul - a member of the so-called Tipton Three . The tape received the Silver Bear Prize at the Berlin Film Festival ^[8] . After that, Ahmed starred in several television roles: in 2007 in the drama Britz , in 2008 in the thriller Dead End and the financial drama Wired. In 2009, he took part in the television movie Free Fall, where his partners were Dominic Cooper and Sarah Harding ^[2] . In the same year, he starred in the independent film "Shifty" directed by Eran Krivi - Ahmed played the role of a charismatic drug dealer. For this work, he was nominated for a British Independent Film Award , along with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason. ^[9]

In 2009, he starred in the movie Sally Potter "Rage." The following year, Ahmed starred in Chris Morris’s satirical comedy Four Lions, for which he received his second British Independent Film Award nomination for Best Actor. Ahmed also played a supporting role in the historical thriller Neil Marshall Centurion .

In 2012, he starred in one of the main roles in the film "Adverse Quarters", for this work he was nominated for the British Independent Film Award for the third time. In the same year, he was noted for his role in the film “Fundamentalist involuntarily” - film adaptations of one of the most successful novels by Mohsim Hamid , where his colleagues were Kate Hudson , Kiefer Sutherland and Leo Schreiber .

In 2014, Ahmed took part in the filming of the film " Stringer ", where he played the role of Rick, partner of actor Jake Gyllenhaal . This work was very warmly received by critics, the actor received many nominations for various profile awards. In 2016, Ahmed played the role of Nasir "Naz" Khan in the HBO miniseries " One Night ", again receiving many acclaims from film critics. In the same year, Ahmed starred in the film Outcast One. Star Wars Tales - a new anthology in the Star Wars movie universe .

In 2006, Ahmed recorded a satirical rap track called Post 9/11 Blues. Initially, the song was banned on British radio, as its text was recognized as “politically provocative” ^[10] . Later, Ahmed released several more tracks, including The Sour Times, which was filmed with musicians Scroobius Pip, Plan B and Jim Sturgess .

In 2007, he was selected as the host of the Glastonbury and BBC Electric Proms festivals . He also opened Massive Attack trip-hop concerts at the Royal Festival Hall (2008), and was named Emerging Artist in Residence at the Southbank Center in London. In August 2009, he performed at the Camp for Climate Action festival.

In 2011, he released his debut album, entitled MICroscope , under the pseudonym Riz MC. On December 1, 2011, it was announced that Riz MC had signed with Tru Thoughts, an independent label from Brighton. In 2016, he released his second disc - Englistan .

Ahmed is also a member of the hip hop duo Swet Shop Boys, along with Himanshu Suri. Their debut release, the Swet Shop mini-album, was released in 2014. The full-length disc, Cashmere , was released on October 14, 2016.

Cinema

Television

• MICroscope (2011)
• Englistan (2016)
• Cashmere (as part of the Swet Shop Boys duo) (2016)

• Riz MC on Discogs