Riz Ahmed went from being a Pakistani-Muslim actor being nominated for the Oscars to finally winning one. The British-Pakistani artist thanked God, and the fam, particularly his wife for being a totch in his darkness.
After being nominated for an Academy Award for his production, Sound of Metal, last year, this year the Mogambo rapper finally bagged an Oscar. Riz Ahmed won his first Oscar for the critically acclaimed live-action short film The Long Goodbye.
This is also one of his own creations, which he co-wrote with Aneil Karia.
The Emmy-winning artist took to Instagram to pen heartfelt thank yous.
“Thank you, God, for teaching me. Shout out to everyone who has helped carry that weight as we made this film – Aneil, you are a genius and one of the great filmmakers of your generation, Caroline Reason you’re my sister and have been holding me on this journey for so long thank you, Astrid Ferguson, you’re a G and there’s seriously nothing you can’t do, DJ Bradfield you’re an artist’s dream.”
Riz specifically mentioned his wife and family saying;
“Thank you to my family and to my wife, Fatima Faheem Mirza, for being my torch in the darkness.”
The Venom star’s acceptance speech talked about those that ‘feel like they don’t belong‘, and honored his immigrant roots.
“You know, in such divided times, we believe that the role of story is to remind us that there is no us and them, there’s just us. This is for everyone who feels like they don’t belong and anyone who feels like they’re stuck in a no man’s land, you’re not alone, we’ll meet you there. That’s where the future is.”
He also touched on those sentiments in his Instagram post saying;
“When you spend your life code-switching you learn to never bring all of your raw, unfiltered self to the table. But this film was just that – our families and fears, the music and the message, Urdu and English – holding nothing back.”
The Nightcrawler actor then went on to talk about rewards for the heavy stuff you deal with.
“Winning an Oscar for THIS film of all films? It’s a lesson to make the thing you think you shouldn’t, … Also, Oscar’s are seriously heavy. Carrying one for 12 hours feels like your shoulder is dislocating. And maybe that was a lesson too – that the weight you carry is the reward, the pain is the poetry, your gift and curse are the same. Confront your adversity, embrace it, and share it – it will elevate you. That’s what we did with this film. We put our nightmares on screen and they turned into a dream.”
