Sound of Metal Oscar nomination: Riz Ahmed continues to break history

Riz Ahmed continues to make history when it comes to the awards space. He’s become the first Muslim to be nominated for Best Actor for Sound of Metal.

It’s not very often that I pay attention to the nominations (or even the wins) when it comes to various awards. They’re not my thing. Everything is too political and way too rigged to really let me care too much about the Oscars, the Emmys, and much more.

However, there are times that a nomination catches my attention. Sound of Metal getting six Oscar nominations made me smile. It’s an excellent movie focused on disabilities, fear, drug addiction, and so much more. It deserves to get attention from the awarding bodies, but I’ll admit that I never expected it to.

Among the list of nominations was Best Actor for Riz Ahmed. Again, it put a smile on my face because he was outstanding in the movie. It also put a smile on my face for Ahmed to break history.

He’s become the first Muslim to be nominated for Best Actor. Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Moonlight in 2017 (and then for Green Book in 2019), but a Muslim has not been nominated for Best Actor. This is a huge deal in a time when we’re focusing on bringing equality everywhere.

Invincible‘s Steven Yuen also became the first Asian (along with Ahmed) to be nominated for Best Actor.

Sound of Metal is not the first time Riz Ahmed has made history

If you think this is impressive, how about the fact that it was only four years ago that the first Muslim was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor at the Emmys?

Who got that? Yes, it was Ahmed again. He was nominated (and won) Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for The Night Of. Again, it was an outstanding series, and he certainly deserved that win.

But at the same time, isn’t it disappointing that it’s taken so long to get to this point?

I’m trying not to dwell on the sadness of the statement. Instead, I want to celebrate the fact that Sound of Metal has landed six well-deserved nominations. This is one of the strongest movies on Amazon—and that says a lot. Amazon does movies well.

It’s one of those movies that had a smaller budget. There’s a small intimate cast, and that’s what makes this movie so strong. It’s not about flashy graphics but about the story. No matter what I say about it, I can’t do it justice. I simply can’t describe the way I felt watching it. You need to check it out on Amazon before the Oscars.

It’s been nominated for:

• Best Picture
• Best Actor
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Original Screenplay
• Best Film Editing
• Best Sound

Watch the Oscars on Sunday, April 25 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC.