Actor Riz Ahmed and actor and writer Aziz Ansari both won awards at the 69th Emmy® Awards held on Sunday 17th September 2017 in Los Angeles, USA. The Television Academy awards recognized excellence in primetime programming and individual achievement for the 2016 – 2017 television season. Riz Ahmed was recognised with the ‘Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series of Movie’ Award for his role as Nasir “Naz” Khan HBO’s ‘The Night Of’. This is the first time an Asian actor or actress has won the lead award, although Archie Panjabi picked up the ‘Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series’ Emmy Award in 2010 for her role in ‘The Good Wife’.
This was a second win for Aziz Ansari who alongside co-writer Lena Waithe picked up the award for ‘Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Netflix’s Master Of None, Thanksgiving episode.Waithe’s win made her the first black woman to win for writing in a comedy series. She was the first black woman to ever be nominated in the category. The award marked the second Emmy for Ansari who won the same award in 2016 alongside Alan Yang for Master of None, Parents episode.
Hosted by Emmy Award Winner Stephen Colbert and produced by White Cherry Entertainment with executive producers Glenn Weiss, Ricky Kirshner and Chris Licht, the telecast featured 27 awards, presented by celebrated performers from television’s most acclaimed shows including Anthony Anderson, Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, James Corden, Viola Davis, Edie Falco, Anna Faris, Jane Fonda, Allison Janney, Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Seth Meyers, Jim Parsons, Lily Tomlin and Reese Witherspoon.
Additionally, Emmys were awarded in 92 other categories at the Creative Arts Awards on September 9 and September 10.
About Riz Ahmed
Rizwan Ahmed, also known as Riz MC, is a British actor, rapper and activist. He was initially known for his work in independent films such as The Road to Guantanamo (2006), Shifty (2008), Four Lions (2010), Trishna (2011) and Ill Manors (2012), before his breakout role in Nightcrawler (2014), alongside Jake Gyllenhaal. In 2016, he starred in the films Una, Jason Bourne, and the first Star Wars Anthology film, Rogue One.
That year, he also starred in the HBO miniseries The Night Of as Nasir Khan; the show and his performance were critically lauded. At the 2017 Emmy Awards, he received two nominations, for his performance in The Night Of and his guest spot in the final season of Girls; he won the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for The Night Of, becoming the first Muslim to win an acting Emmy.
As a rapper, he is a member of the Swet Shop Boys, and earned critical acclaim with the hip-hop albums Microscope and Cashmere. He also earned commercial success featuring in the Billboard 200 chart topping Hamilton Mixtape, with his song “Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)” winning an MTV Video Music Award. As an activist, he is known for his political rap music, and has been involved in raising funds for Syrian refugee children and advocating representation at the House of Commons. In 2017, he was included on the front cover of the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
Aziz Ansari is a writer, stand-up comedian, and actor. He currently stars in, writes, and directs his own original series for Netflix. At the time of publication, he was unable to decide on a title for his series. In 2014, Ansari became the seventh comedian ever to sell out Madison Square Garden in New York. His two sold-out performances at the legendary arena were filmed for his fourth comedy special, “Aziz Ansari: Live at Madison Square Garden,” which was released in March of 2015 on Netflix. For seven seasons, he starred as Tom Haverford on the beloved NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation with Amy Poehler and other great people. He has also appeared in several films including This Is the End,Funny People, and 30 Minutes or Less.
( courtsey- newasianpost.co.uk)