Back in April, much of the Star Wars family and friends gathered in Chicago for the Star Wars Celebration. Rogue One’s Riz Ahmed was among those expected to attend, but he had to cancel at the last minute. Now, the actor alleges he missed out on the celebration due to racial profiling at the airport.
While at CAA’s Amplify Leadership Summit earlier this week, a conference focusing on issues of diversity and multicultural issues, Riz Ahmed spoke out about being constantly held up, searched, and interviewed at airports for the past 15 years due to his Pakistani background. It recently caused him to miss out on meeting fans at the Star Wars Celebration when Homeland Security denied him from boarding his plane.
Take a look at the tweet the Star Wars Celebration account had to put out, following Homeland Security reportedly delaying Riz Ahmed’s trip:
Tons of fans left the convention that day certainly disappointed not to see Riz Ahmed in attendance, and the event had to organize ticket exchanges and refunds to guests as a result. Some fans have now responded to the tweet in disappointment that the Twitter account didn’t bring the reason to light sooner. During Ahmed’s speech at the summit (via THR), he discussed the problem at hand in his view:
The actor has made positive waves in terms of representation for Muslims in Hollywood, starring in films such as Nightcrawler, Jason Bourne, and as Carlton Drake in Venom, which made $855 million worldwide last year.
Combined with his role as Bodhi Rook in 2016’s Rogue One, that puts Riz Ahmed in the worlds of both Star Wars and Marvel. The actor also won an Emmy in 2017 for leading the HBO series The Night Of, becoming the first actor of South Asian descent to take home the prize.
Riz Ahmed has also shown interest in working with Marvel to bring Ms. Marvel to the big screen with Mindy Kaling and Kumail Nanjiani. She is Marvel’s first Muslim character to headline her own comic series. Kaling has confirmed that she’s talked with Marvel about the potential project, but nothing is set in stone.
There are other strides in the industry being made by actors such as Rami Malek, who recently became the first Arab-American to win the Best Actor Oscar after dazzling as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Mahershala Ali, who identifies as Muslim, also recently won two Best Supporting Actor Oscars for Moonlight and Green Book.
There has also been an uptick of Desi actors in big films this summer, such as with Mindy Kaling’s Late Night, newcomer Himesh Patel starring in Yesterday, Kumail Nanjiani in Stuber coming in July, and Blinded By the Light coming this August. Check them out, among other exciting 2019 releases!
