Riz Ahmed Reacts to Getting Tom Cruise's “Bangin’” Coconut Cake

Of course, Ahmed did get to experience what his family couldn’t indulge in by working alongside Cruise.

“He’s relentlessly positive the whole time,” the 43-year-old said of working with the action star, “which is so invigorating but as a British person at first it’s completely weird.” 

Indeed, Ahmed joked British culture couldn’t have prepared him for Cruise.

“We can’t process that level of positivity,” he quipped. “You ask us how we’re doing and we never say, ‘Great.’ We say, ‘Not bad.’” 

Of course Ahmed was, at least, feeling great about stepping out at the Emmys 2026, where he was nominated for Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series alongside Black Rabbit’s Jason Bateman, Monster: The Ed Gein Story’s Charlie Hunnam, Beef’s Oscar Isaac and The Beast in Me’s Matthew Rhys. (Rhys ended up taking home the Emmy. See every other winner here). 

In fact, Ahmed, who previously nabbed a trophy in 2017 for his performance in The Night Of, explained he felt as though he’d already won to earn recognition for such a personal role. 

“My mom’s here today,” he mused. “The whole show is really a love letter to family.”

If there’s one thing Ahmed gleaned from his role as Shah Latif—a struggling actor who puts his relationships at stake in pursuit of the career-defining role as James Bond—it’s that family matters more than any accolade. 

“We’re always trying to prove our worth to strangers and that’s for everyone now with social media so this is about a character looking for love in all the wrong places,” he explained of his Bait character, “and really it’s waiting for him at home. It’s with his family.”

For more stars who stepped out at the Emmys 2026, keep reading….