British actor, rapper and activist Riz Ahmed’s breakout year that began with the HBO summer hit, The Night Of, is still going great guns. After starring in the hit TV series as Nasir Khan in July 2016, Ahmed not only landed Golden Globe and SAG nominations for his performance but also found universal acclaim.
British actor, rapper and activist Riz Ahmed’s breakout year that began with the HBO summer hit, The Night Of, is still going great guns. After starring in the hit TV series as Nasir Khan in July 2016, Ahmed not only landed Golden Globe and SAG nominations for his performance but also found universal acclaim. Since then, he has gone on to star in two prolific Hollywood franchise films – Rogue One (A Star Wars anthology film) and Jason Bourne – and also starred in a prominent supporting role on the sixth and final season of Lena Dunham’s Girls. Landing the Time Magazine cover is simply his latest accomplishment in an unprecedented year that also included giving a speech in the House of Parliament in London about the importance of diversity on TV in the UK and writing an essay (‘Typecast as a Terrorist) about race and immigration in the UK.
His musical avatar, known as Riz MC, is also gaining traction around the world. While solo works include records like Englistan, he also makes up one half of the music group, Swet Shop Boys who have picked up critical acclaim for their debut full length record, Cashmere. 
Landing the Time Magazine cover (in which he is featured as one of this year’s influential pioneers) is therefore just Ahmed’s latest accomplishment and a well-deserved one in a career full of landmark performances and equally compassionate views that he has been sharing since the spotlight fell on him last summer.
Apart from being featured on the cover, Ahmed is written about in the magazine by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the man who created and starred in Hamilton, the Broadway musical that made box office history in New York and won every single prize a musical/theatre production can win since its arrival. The text, penned by Miranda, is in the form of a rap that is perhaps an ode to Ahmed’s rapping musical ways.
“Look! Riz Ahmed is over here on HBO, turning in a stunning, tell-your-friends-the-next-day performance as Naz, the aching center of The Night Of.
Look! Now Riz Ahmed is over there, playing Bodhi Rook in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, defecting to the Rebel Alliance and breaking our collective heart!
Look! There’s Riz Ahmed delivering a blistering 16 bars about the immigrant experience on The Hamilton Mixtape! ‘To a galaxy far from their ignorance ... immigrants, we get the job done’!
Wait, look! Now he’s home in London, gathering friends and fellow artists for passionate salons!
Look! He’s in the new Bourne!
Look, there he is on Girls!
Look, Riz Ahmed has been quietly pursuing every passion and opportunity for many years as an actor (The Road to Guantánamo, Four Lions, Nightcrawler), rapper (“Post 9/11 Blues,” “Englistan”) and activist (raising funds for Syrian refugee children, advocating representation at the House of Commons). To know him is to be inspired, engaged and ready to create alongside him. The year 2016 was when all the seeds he planted bore glorious fruit, and here’s the best part: he’s just getting started.
Look! We’re alive at the same time as Riz Ahmed! Look!”
In the aftermath of this cover, Ahmed took to his Facebook page and wrote a thank you note. “Proud, humbled and inspired to be one of the covers for Time magazine #100mostinfluentialpeople - thanks to the editors, you guys, my friends, family, and all my amazing team for your support over the course of a rollercoaster year. I hope to earn this in the months and years to come and justify your faith in me.”
Other than the Brit star, the four other names to make the cover list of Time 100 in 2017 include John Legend, actress Viola Davis, Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, philanthropist Melinda Gates. Meanwhile, cultural icons to make the Time 100 list include Leonardo DiCaprio, Barry Jenkins, Leslie Jones, Alicia Keys, Sarah Paulson, Ryan Reynolds, Margot Robbie and Emma Stone.
