In another first, three of the five Best Actor nominees are men of color, including two men of Asian heritage. Ahmed, a British Pakistani actor, is one of them. (The other is Steven Yuen of Minari.) Ahmed now also holds the distinction of being the first Muslim actor to receive an Academy Best Actor nod (via HuffPost and other outlets).
While this is Ahmed's first time up for an Oscar, he's no stranger to awards ceremonies. He's a two-time Emmy nominee who won the Best Lead Actor award for The Night Of (via Television Academy), as well as a double Golden Globes nominee (via Golden Globes). In response to the honor, he tweeted: "Wow! I'm honoured to be nominated by my fellow actors alongside such inspiring performances, and am grateful to the Academy for their support and encouragement." He gave special shout-outs to the film's writer-director, editor, sound designer, and co-writer, as well as "my mentors in the drumming, addiction recovery, and D/deaf communities."
Fans expressed their thanks to and pride in Ahmed for helping break down barriers. One tweet said: "You paved the way for young British Asians in the industry whilst making history in the process, and helped better the representation of Muslims in the mainstream. Awesome stuff ... Congrats, dude."
Another follower added, "Huge congratulations for this and your essential and brave fight against racism. You are a massive inspiration to me as an anti-racism activist."
