"we can all relate to this feeling of being an imposter"
Riz Ahmed can currently be seen in Prime Video’s Bait, and the story was inspired by the actor’s own Hollywood rise.
Bait follows struggling actor Shah Latif, played by Ahmed, whose life spirals after a failed Bond audition.
Ahmed revealed the idea for the series was shaped by his own career progression, particularly after projects like The Night Of and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
He told Radio Times: “It was about 2014/2015, I started becoming a little bit more well-known and particularly coming out of America with shows like The Night Of, stuff like that and Star Wars.
“I felt a massive distance between how I was seen in public and actually, who I really was. And that gap between your public and private self, I think, is something we can all relate to.
“There’s a version we’re performing online or in public and then, the kind of vulnerable, chaotic mess that we often are.
“I thought the distance between those two things is sometimes so stressful to keep up appearances that it’s actually kind of funny.
“So, I started writing down these stories, all these crazy things that kind of happened to me.
“The week that it got announced I was in Star Wars, I got banned from Tesco for suspected shoplifting just because of the way I was dressed… and so, things like that just made me think, ‘You know what, I want to write about this’.
“Actually, we can all relate to this feeling of being an imposter, of almost as though life is one big audition.”
Riz Ahmed starred as Bodhi Rook in Rogue One. He also won an Emmy for his role in The Night Of.
While Bait explores serious themes, it also leans into humour, particularly through Ahmed’s on-screen dynamic with Guz Khan, who plays Shah’s cousin Zulfi.
Khan and Ahmed are longtime friends and this informs their on-screen chemistry.
Guz Khan said: “Riz is somebody who’s done so much in his career so far but again, it’s really interesting that he mentions that everybody has this version of themselves that your fanbase or the media and the public perceives you as. I just know Riz as my guy and vice versa.
“So, when you have the opportunity to take those elements, those relationships into this format?”
“One thing you knew from the start with me and him is, hey listen, whenever you make television, it doesn’t matter what level you’re at, how long you’ve been doing it, until you’ve made it and it goes out into the world, you can never really tell what people are going to think.
“But we knew our chemistry would be bang on and I think that is something that has come to fruition in the show.”
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