The Long Goodbye

In "Sound of Metal," he played a punk drummer grappling with sudden hearing loss, and he was nominated for an Oscar for that film.

And for "The Long Goodbye," which is about a British Pakistani family whose ordinary Sunday is shattered by a far-right militia, he won the Oscar for Best Short Film.

Riz Ahmed, welcome back to Fresh Air.

Thank you so much for having me back.

And earlier this year, he starred in a film adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

He got his start on pirate radio as a teenager in London, competing in rap battles and recording politically charged music that got banned on British airwaves.

In 2020, he released The Long Goodbye, a concept album which uses an abusive romantic relationship as a metaphor for the relationship between the UK and its immigrants.

The short film based on the album earned the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.