Riz Ahmed is opening up about balancing his family life and career.
The Phoenician Scheme actor, 42, caught up with PEOPLE at the 2025 Elle Style Awards, sharing how he's balancing his career with his private family life after recently confirming he quietly welcomed a child.
"It's definitely a kind of new thing to navigate ... when you go from being someone whose work is everything to suddenly having this other thing that's so much more precious, which is your family," he tells PEOPLE. "At times, you can feel a bit torn. At times, it's a kind of a balancing act, and I'm sure this is no different from what 99% of working people with families also have to kind of contend with."
The proud father admits that fatherhood does make things "more clear" for him when deciding what projects to take on.
"But I think in another way, it makes things much more clear, because if you're going to step away from your family, it kind of has to be worth it," he says. "If you're gonna be putting in your heart and soul into something other than the people you care about most, you better know why you're doing it."
Ahmed and his wife Fatima Farheen Mirza, 34, met in 2018 and tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in late 2020. The British actor-producer and American novelist have not disclosed any details about their child.
Just before filming the thriller Relay, which hit theaters on Friday, Aug. 22, his family had many items of sentimental value stolen, he recently told The Hollywood Reporter. In fact, the incident is what inspired the new movie.
"All our belongings and prized possessions were robbed on a truck that was moving from California to New York. We just had a baby, and so all of our photos and memory cards and really precious items were robbed," said the Oscar and Emmy winner.
Ahmed said that his real-life difficulties with his robbery case fueled his performance on screen.
"Sometimes, I would have the assistant director read out the email or the list of things stolen, or the latest text message from the person that was investigating...that experience gave me a way into this character that was very visceral and honest," he said.
He added, "That's partly why this film means so much to me. We, as a family, were living through a similar version of loss and loss of control that my character was dealing with."