Riz Ahmed reveals he married novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza

April Roach @aprilroach2814 January 2021

Riz Ahmed has revealed his new wife is the US novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza.

The British star of Sound of Metal shared earlier this week on broadcaster Louis Theroux’s podcast Grounded, how he had tied the knot but he did not reveal his wife’s name.

Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Ahmed shared how he met Mirza in New York while preparing for his latest film.

“She’s an amazing novelist. We met so randomly while I was preparing for this role, for Sound Of Metal when I was in New York,” said the 38-year-old actor.

“We both sat down at the same table in the cafe where we both turned up to write. We were both jostling over the same laptop plug points, like a very modern way of meeting.

“And we struck up a friendship and reconnected down the line. But it’s weirdly like one of the many things about preparing for this role that was so special, it just brought a lot of goodness into my life.

Riz Ahmed is also a rapper
Getty Images

“Obviously I met Fatima for the first time and met so many people in the deaf community that have become friends. There’s just something about this whole period around this film that was kind of life changing.”

Mirza is a New York Times best-selling author whose books include A Place for Us. She was raised in California, according to her website.

The Wembley-born star actor, who won an Emmy for his role in The Night Of and has appeared in the Star Wars franchise, joked about the supposed “secret” wedding.

He told Fallon: “It’s a weird one because we live in a social media age if you don’t get on the megaphone about stuff it’s like, it’s a secret. But I never know how much is oversharing.”

Ahmed’s portrayal of a drummer losing his hearing in Sound Of Metal has catapulted him into awards season contention. Earlier this week he won best actor at the Gotham Awards for independent film.

The ceremony was largely virtual due to the pandemic. Ahmed described that aspect as “super weird”.

He said: “It’s weird because no-one is really sure exactly when they’re on camera. So you actually get a couple of seconds of people’s unadulterated, unvarnished reactions.

“So it’s kind of cool in a way because you see a very intimate reaction.”

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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