Riz Ahmed was told to become a lawyer when he was at school because he was a "loud mouth".
The 34-year-old actor excelled academically at school and after winning a scholarship to public school Merchant Taylors in north London he went on to study philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University.
Ahmed admits a lot of his education mentors wanted him to pursue a legal career and become a lawyer but he never wanted to take a "desk job" and knew when he was a young man that his future lay in the arts, as his passions were acting and music.
In an interview with The I Paper, he said: "A lot of teachers told me I should be a barrister. I was a loud mouth, so they thought, ‘You might as well get paid for it. I could not see myself with a desk job."
Ahmed made the right choice as now at the age of 34 he is one of the most in-demand actors with acclaimed roles in Disney blockbuster ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’, drama ‘City of Tiny Lights’ and ‘Una’ – which is based on the play ‘Blackbird’ by David Harrower.
Ahmed credits his role as an assistant to Jake Gyllenhaal’s unscrupulous news videographer in 2014’s ‘Nightcrawler’ for showing the world what he is capable on the big screen.
He said: "I don’t think anyone wants to be reduced to their skin colour, their height or their bra size. People want to be seen as people."
Ahmed is enjoying being so busy with his career but admits he’s getting used to the new-found attention since he played Bodhi Rook in ‘Rogue One’.
He said: "It’s certainly a new experience for me – to have so much out around the same time. And for it to be seen by so many people because of the scale of some of those projects. I’m more used to having an indie film out every two years."
Riz Ahmed was told by teachers to become a lawyer
