Riz Ahmed Quotations

The only people who have doubts about the sincerity of my music are people who come to it relatively late, off the back of having seen me in a film. Acting is about being other people, and music is about being myself.

First, you have stereotypes, and that will be the black drug dealer, the east Asian kung fu master, the Middle Eastern terrorist in 'True Lies.' Then you have stuff that takes place on culturally specific terrain, that engages with it, but actually subverts assumptions. 'Smashes' stereotypes. That's where I've come into the game.

I like the idea of being caught between things, always being a bit of an outsider, having an outside eye on things - almost like a Shakespearean fool.

I think that with piracy and tighter funds being around, people are realising that the game to play is to try and win people's respect with bold film making and then win a special place in people's collections, rather than just having the biggest opening weekends.

I'm not trying to project any persona. Often people don't know where to put me. I don't fit comfortably under banners, and that's fine. I'm not worried about not making sense to people. That's probably my best asset.

Bandwagons roll through our lives. It's up to you whether you jump on them unquestioningly or jump on them to overturn them and subvert them.

I go to a lot of stand-up comedy. I find more inspiration from observational stuff than from rap.

I have always been restless, had a lot of energy.

My music is a very personal reflection of me, whereas, acting a role, that's a reflection of another character.

My parents, man, they're just the most loving, encouraging... They're like those people who define themselves through their role as parents before people in their own rights.

No-one gets a job at 16 and stays in it until 60 any more; we're connected to more people simultaneously than ever before, whether online or on our phones. We wear so many different hats within one day, one week, a lifetime.

The music I make and the process of acting, for me, are both about trying to understand people and get inside what makes us tick. That's the main thing that excites me. Our sense of who we really are and what drives us.

I don't think any of us like to be reduced to just one label.

I don't feel that any kind of narrow stereotypes are representative of the work I've done, nor the range of the audience that work has found. I've played lots of different roles, and they've connected with lots of different people.

I think that in an Internet age, content is content. As long as you can stand up on the merits of what you're doing right at that moment and aren't just relying on your success in doing something else, it's all good; people will respect you.

In terms of negotiating a career - I've always grown up being an insider and an outsider to different worlds, across different classes and cultures, so I have always naturally liked making films or music that puts things in unexpected places.

The camera or the microphone in the booth is merciless. If you don't believe what you're saying, it hears it. If you don't believe it, it sees it in your eyes, it hears it in your voice that there isn't the conviction there.

I'm always trying to slip out of those labels everyone tries to put round your neck. We all have multiple selves.

The fact is, I've been releasing records longer than I've been releasing films, or at least exactly as long.

What's interesting about the U.K. is that it celebrates an alternative voice. It's up for telling new stories.

My music is a very personal reflection of me, whereas, acting a role, thats a reflection of another character.

Bandwagons roll through our lives. Its up to you whether you jump on them unquestioningly or jump on them to overturn them and subvert them.

You know my parents, man, they're just the most loving, encouraging… They're like those people who define themselves through their role as parents before people in their own rights.