Riz Ahmed reveals how he met his wife

British-Pakistani star Riz Ahmed has revealed that he is married to US novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza.

Ahmed appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday. He said he met Mirza in New York while preparing for Sound Of Metal, his latest film that won him a best actor award at the 30th Gotham Independent Film Awards.

“She’s an amazing novelist,” said Ahmed. “We met so randomly while I was preparing for this role, for Sound Of Metal, when I was in New York.” Mirza is a New York Times bestselling author whose debut novel A place For Us topped the list in 2018.

He said they both sat down at the same table in a cafe where they turned up for writing. “We were both jostling over the same laptop plug points, like a very modern way of meeting.”

The Venom actor said that preparing for his role in Sound of Metal “brought goodness into his life” as he became friends with Mirza.  

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

Ahmed first revealed that he is married on the BBC podcast Grounded With Louis Theroux last week, where he said it was “not very long ago” when he got married. However, he didn’t disclose his wife’s name or share how he met her or how long they had been dating.