ISLAMABAD: Riz Ahmed, a British actor of Pakistani descent, has been selected to host the Academy's nominations presentation and announce the nominees for the 95th Oscars, becoming the first person of Pakistan origin to receive the honour.
Last year, Ahmed won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film as the co-writer, producer, and star of The Long Goodbye. In 2021, he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance in Sound of Metal. After breaking out in the Oscar-nominated thriller Nightcrawler, Ahmed starred in the HBO limited series The Night Of, for which he won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Up next, he will star opposite Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley in the sci-fi drama Fingernails, and is set to reteam with The Long Goodbye director, Aneil Karia, for a modern feature adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
"Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams have been tapped to host the Academy's nominations presentation and announce the nominees for the 95th Oscars," the Academy announced on its official website.
Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 24. The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12, live from the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
Last week, Ahmed announced that his production company Left Handed Films had joined Pakistani movie ‘Joyland’– which has been submitted for Oscar nominations – as an executive producer.
“We are so proud at Left Handed Films to be a part of @joylandmovie. Our motto is “go left” and Saim Sadiq’s unique film does just that. JOYLAND is ground-breaking. And it's easy to get lost in all the ways that it is; the first Pakistani film at Cannes, the first award-winner, the first to be Oscar®️ shortlisted, and a queer love story that has overcome multiple bans. But more important than any of the glass ceilings it smashes, is how this film so masterfully breaks our hearts,” he wrote in an Instagram post.
