Riz Ahmed says the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of Muslim characters in movies and television have real-world consequences.
Ahmed, 38, is the first Muslim and first Asian to win a lead acting Emmy for his work on “The Night Of”. The Oscar-nominated star opens up about the way Muslims are represented in the media.
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“All this stuff was just a big wake-up call,” Ahmed tells GQ for its Dec. 2021/Jan. 2022 GQ Heroes cover issue. “It’s not surprising, but it is shocking. It’s a blind spot that’s all over our culture. And it costs lives. Countries get invaded, hate crimes go up, laws get passed.
“So off the back of that, we’re thinking, ‘What do we need to shift?’ And, actually, it’s about empowering people to tell their own story.”
Ahmed also discusses his new movie, “Mogul Mowgli”, which premiered in North America earlier this year.
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“It’s basically a pandemic movie: a workaholic gets hit with a health crisis; his life is thrown into a lockdown. He has to sit with himself, reassess what really matters. I always find the making of a film, the telling of a story and the story itself, end up mirroring each other. Always.”
See the full feature in the GQ Heroes issue available on digital download and on newsstands Friday, Nov. 5.
