--- title: TIME 100: Riz Ahmed on Being an Outsider description: British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed, a TIME 100 honoree, says he's had his fair experience of feeling like a fish out of water. canonical: https://time.com/4746022/riz-ahmed-time-100-video/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-20T11:00:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:46:42.098Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Riz Ahmed on Going From Being an Outsider to Part of a Creative Community og:description: The TIME 100 honoree has been known to feel like a fish out of water og:url: https://time.com/4746022/riz-ahmed-time-100-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a360f09275e3c6c/6988c364cd1bba8dbe704c84/time-100-2017-riz-ahmed61.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1120 og:image:height: 630 og:image:alt: time-100-2017-riz-ahmed6 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Riz Ahmed on Going From Being an Outsider to Part of a Creative Community twitter:description: The TIME 100 honoree has been known to feel like a fish out of water twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a360f09275e3c6c/6988c364cd1bba8dbe704c84/time-100-2017-riz-ahmed61.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Riz Ahmed on Feeling Like an Outsider in Hollywood > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Riz Ahmed on Feeling Like an Outsider in Hollywood [Watch (HLS stream): Riz Ahmed on Feeling Like an Outsider in Hollywood](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/l4kdkBln.m3u8) (3:30)  _Published 2017-04-20. 34-year-old Riz Ahmed, a first-time member of the TIME 100, says he's had plenty of experience feeling like a fish out of water._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Apr 20, 2017 11:00 AM UTC 34-year-old Riz Ahmed, a first-time member of the TIME 100, says he's had plenty of experience feeling like a fish out of water. by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Apr 20, 2017 11:00 AM UTC It’s hard to imagine Riz Ahmed — star of movies and shows as diverse as [_Rogue One: A Star Wars Story_](http://time.com/4591849/rogue-one-star-wars-riz-ahmed-bodhi-rook/), HBO’s _The Night Of_, [Netflix’s _The OA_](http://time.com/4605895/the-oa-explained-netflix/) and, most recently, [_Girls_](http://time.com/4683834/girls-sexual-harassment-matthew-rhys/)— as an outsider. But the 34-year-old, a first-time [member of the TIME 100](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4742708/riz-ahmed/), says he’s had plenty of experience feeling like a fish out of water. “When I got to Oxford University… the first person I spoke to laughed in my face and told me that I reminded them of [Ali G](http://time.com/4254479/sacha-baron-cohen-roles-pictures/),” the British-Pakistani actor tells TIME in a video interview. “I stuck out there in terms of where I was coming from, the way I spoke, the way I dressed, who I was.” But Ahmed didn’t let this feeling of being an outsider — a trait which he thinks is common among people working in creative industries — hold him back. “The place where you feel that you stick out the most is the place where you should stick out and stay,” he says. “That’s where you can contribute something new and something fresh.” [_Four Lions_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2030910,00.html), a satirical comedy about wannabe Jihadi suicide bombers, is widely considered Ahmed’s breakout role — but he says he nearly didn’t take the part. “I wanted to get away from doing roles that had anything to do with my racial background,” he says. “I wanted to get to what I call the Promised Land, where you’re playing a character that could be called [Nasir Khan](http://time.com/4396640/the-night-of-hbo-review/), but the fact that he’s in prison for \[the\] suspected murder \[of\] a girl is nothing to do with his race.” **MORE** [See Who Is on TIME’s List of the Most Influential People of 2017](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/) Ahmed’s roles have grown more diverse since _Four Lions_, which won a BAFTA in 2011\. However, he has remained a strong advocate of increasing representation in popular culture and beyond, even lecturing British Members of Parliament on the subject earlier this year. “Whether you’re a petite blond girl \[or\] a big black guy, we carry a necklace of people’s assumptions,” he says. “I think that film and culture and television and novels and art and music can play an amazing role in stretching that necklace or \[even\] freeing people from that necklace. So you do just start to see them more as human beings.” Now a [Golden Globe nominee](http://time.com/4597608/golden-globes-nominees-2017/), Ahmed’s days of typecasting seem behind him. But even though he knows he can no longer count himself as a genuine outsider, he still likes to stay on the periphery. “I can start to feel claustrophobic if I’m part of a scene,” he says. “I like dipping in and out. But yeah — for now it’s nice to feel embraced by a creative community.” ## Transcript I remember when I first got to Oxford University, I felt really massively like a fish out of water. The first person I spoke to, they laughed in my face and told me that I remind them of Ali G. So I kind of stuck out there in terms of where I was coming from, the way I spoke, the way I dressed. The place that you feel the stick out the most is the place where you should stick it out. Riz Ahmed: And stay because that's where you can contribute something new, and something fresh and it's gonna be hard. Sometimes it's gonna be really lonely and it was. But I stuck it out and I was able to kind of offer something different here. It's Say something! Come on! Rogue.. Rogue One! Riz Ahmed: I was always quite a restless kid I guess I was a class clown. A certain teacher took me to one side and said look you can either continue to get thrown out the classroom For messing around and cracking jokes and playing to the crowd, or you can do that on stage where you get a round of applause for it. And you dont get into so much trouble. It felt like something I just had to get out of my system rather than identifying a talent and picking the career. It looks like I killed her, I know that That's how it looks. [ SOUND ] Don't talk to anybody anymore. Shut it. John Turturro definitely took me under his wing when we were filming The Night Of. And something I really worry about right now is we're kind of seeing a kind of slashing of lots of funding for universities and community centers, and people are missing out on mentors. I'll find the most experienced actor on set and say, look, step in. If you see me doing something dumb, tell me. And I think a lot of people have a lot of pride that stops them from doing that, but I love getting criticism. All I do is criticize myself all day. I'm one of the instructors. When I was starting out, I was very eager to keep my acting and my And my music separate and kind of try and build that reputation I could on its own merits. And I feel like I managed to do that to some extent. And so now that they're both at a certain level I think it's inevitable that people hear about the other thing that you do. [ MUSIC ] I think we need to stop talking about diversity and instead talk about representation. Because diversity sounds like a little added extra. You know, it's a little frill, it's a little luxury whereas representation is something quite fundamental that we all expect from our politics and from our culture and from our stories. I think it kind of reframes the urgency of this conversation. Everyone wants to be seen and heard and valued. [ MUSIC ] How did you like that one? I think a lot of creative people feel like they are insider outsiders, they are people who have windows into certain worlds but don't necessarily feel like they belong so they can comment on It's interesting now as I kinda find myself in certain circles, I can start to feel claustrophobic if I'm part of a scene. And now it's nice to feel embraced by a creative community, for sure. 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