Riz Ahmed Adjusting His Wife's Hair on the Oscars Red Carpet Was the Highlight

Academy Award nominee and widely admired actor Riz Ahmed captured hearts at the Oscars when he took a moment to adjust his wife’s hair on the red carpet.

This year’s Oscars were anything but typical, with the ceremony significantly scaled back due to the pandemic, highlighting that even celebrities face challenges returning to normal life after a year spent in loungewear. Yet, amid the unusual atmosphere, there were truly heartwarming moments—especially when Riz Ahmed, star of Sound of Metal, paused on the red carpet to groom his wife Fatima Farheen Mirza’s hair. “I’m the official groomer,” he said, playfully asking photographers to hold off for a moment so he could make sure his partner looked perfect for the cameras. This marked their first public appearance as a married couple.

A Year of Milestones for Riz Ahmed

It’s been an incredible year for Riz Ahmed, a British-Pakistani actor and musician known for his role as a drummer losing his hearing in Sound of Metal, following breakout performances in Nightcrawler (2014) and The Night Of (2016). His nomination for Best Actor was historic, making him the first Muslim and Pakistani actor to achieve this honor in the 93-year history of the Academy Awards.

Fatima Farheen Mirza is also making waves in her own right as a best-selling author, known for her 2018 novel A Place for Us, which explores the experiences of an Indian-Muslim family in Northern California. The couple’s love story began when they serendipitously met while writing in a coffee shop, just as Ahmed was preparing for his role in Sound of Metal.

The Most Adorable Proposal

Perhaps even more enchanting than his red carpet moment was how Riz proposed to Fatima. Sharing the story on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he recounted a romantic picnic in the park during lockdown, where he popped the question. “She looked up and was like, ‘You’re joking.’” But that wasn’t all; while playing Scrabble, Ahmed cleverly rearranged the tiles to spell “Will you marry me?”—a charmingly nerdy twist that she loved.

A COVID-Inspired Intimate Wedding

Like many couples who wed during the pandemic, Riz and Fatima opted for a small, socially distanced backyard ceremony with close friends and family. “It was kind of interesting doing it with COVID and everything going on, obviously kept it super intimate and socially distant,” Ahmed shared on The Tonight Show. He acknowledged the silver lining of having fewer guests, joking about the overwhelming number of relatives typical at large Asian weddings: “No disrespect to the aunties, but Asian weddings are big. You always got these people crawling out of the woodworks who I think are probably imposters.”

This was the couple’s first major public event together, and it set a positive tone for their journey ahead. Although Riz Ahmed did not win the Best Actor award—losing to Anthony Hopkins in a surprising moment—he certainly came away a winner in love.

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