Celebrating Britain's 101 Most Influential Asians 2020

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Riz Ahmed


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IT wouldn’t be unfair to describe him as the wonder boy from Wembley.

A Hollywood A-lister these days, he has conquered one world and has something of a name for himself in another. One and the most obvious is acting – but he probably could have made it as a rapper – MC Riz has a solid following and with Himanshu Kumar Suri (better known as Heems), they formed the rap group, Sweat Shop Boys.

Ahmed has proved his Hollywood credentials a few times over – from starring in a Star Wars franchise movie to now producing and taking lead roles in others.

His newest, Sound of Metal, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Ahmed has an executive producer credit and it’s not difficult to see why he was committed to the film if you see it.

It’s intense and philosophical, difficult and challenging at times. Ahmed plays a relatively non-descript young American (Ruben Stone) trying to find himself – well that is after a profound thing knocks him back a few notches.

A heavy metal drummer, he learns his hearing loss is so severe, there isn’t much that can save him. He holds hope in an operation and while the GG2 Power List can’t give away what exactly happens, it is a challenging situation which sees him initially check into deaf community who welcome and embrace him. There are rules he must follow and the initial reluctance gives way to something enriching and powerful. He makes friends, learns sign language but all the time his previous life and his relationship with Lou/Lulu (fellow Brit but also a seemingly sprightly American-French heritage person, Olivia Cooke) nag at him. Haunting and

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