Naomi Ackie revealed how Oscar winning actor Riz Ahmed changed the trajectory of her career with a “freebie”.
The Bafta-nominated actress shared the story while accepting the Performer Award from her The Score co-star and pal Will Poulter at the Elle Style Awards in London on Tuesday night.
“I want to share a quick story, very, very quick I promise,” the 34-year-old told the audience, in which The London Standard was inattendance.
“When I was 17, I went to college in Islington and I was auditioning for drama schools… but you had to do that thing where you’d have to like pay and I didn’t have enough money for the application.
She continued: “So one day, this dude rocks up to our drama class and he’s talking about Central School of Speech and Drama, and he’s like, ‘it’s really cool there if you wanna go’.
“He reminds me of myself and my friends and he gave us free vouchers to audition,” she continued.
Ackie, 34, then revealed the actor who helped her: “So I would like to, because he doesn’t know this, I would like to thank Riz Ahmed for giving me [that voucher].
“Thank you for giving me a freebie to get into Central [Speech and Drama] because I did go and that was the beginning of my career and everyone just needs a help up.”
The Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody star was one of several honourees at the event, which also recognised model Alexa Chung, author Zadie Smith and activist Malala Yousafzai.
Other winners included singer Lola Young, named Best New Sound and Munroe Bergdorf, who received the Changemaker of the Year award.
Riz Ahmed, who was also honoured on the night with the Modern Pioneer award, is widely regarded for his roles in Sound of Metal and Four Lions.
Among the other winners were Simone Rocha, who was named British designer of the year, and Chopova Lowena, who was honoured as breakthrough designer of the year.
Following their Euro win this year, the Lionesses were named collective of the year with Lucy Bronze and Hannah Hampton among the footballers in attendance at the London event.
