Meet Riz Ahmed, the 1st Muslim to be Nominated for the lead actor in Oscar

Mumbai, 16/3: British actor of Pakistani descent Riz Ahmed has made history on Monday. He became the first Muslim to get nominated in the best lead actor category in the Oscars. He was nominated for his performance in Sound of Metal. It also makes Ahmed the first actor of Pakistani descent to grab a nomination in a category for actors at the Oscars.

Ahmed has received an Oscar nomination in the Best Actor category for his role in Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal. Along with Riz, Steven Yeun for Minari has been nominated in the same category. This is the first time that two actors of Asian descent have been nominated for lead actor in the same year.

The Sound of Metal actor was the first Muslim, and first Asian, to win a lead acting Emmy in 2017 when he won the prize for lead actor in a limited series or movie for The Night of.

Earlier, actor Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar. He won the Oscar Award for supporting actor for Moonlight in 2017 and again won in the same category in 2019 for Green Book.