Riz Ahmed addresses 'lack of diversity' in UK entertainment industry

Actor and rapper Riz Ahmed has raised concerns over failure to overcome 'diversity' in entertainment industry.

According to Fox News, the 34 year-old-actor feels the lack of diversity isolates younger generation and could cause people to "retreat to fringe narratives, to bubbles online and sometimes even off to Syria".

"If we fail to represent, we are in danger of losing people to extremism. If we don't step up and tell a representative story. .. we are going to start losing British teenagers to the story that the next chapter in their lives is written with ISIS in Syria," the 'Jason Bourne' star said while addressing the British Parliament.

He added, "We are going to see the murder of more [members of Parliament] like Jo Cox because we've been mis-sold a story that is so narrow about who we are and who we should be."

Ahmed, also shared how actors like him are forced to move to America for finding acting roles.

"We end up going to America to find work. I meet with producers and directors here, and they say 'we don't have anything for you, all our stories are set in Cornwall in the 1600s."

On a related note, Riz Ahmed rose to fame last year with roles in 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,' 'Jason Bourne' and HBO's mini-series 'The Night Of' for which he received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations.