Mawaan Rizwan on Juice, family and accepting his queerness: ‘The person I needed to talk to was myself’

When Mawaan Rizwan was in his early twenties, he had a ritual: whenever there was something playing on his mind, he’d head to the rooftop of a car park in Whitechapel, where he was living, and yell at the top of his lungs.

Back then, he was hustling to break into the entertainment industry. Along with various odd jobs to get by, he was working as a runner at Pinewood Studios. When he wasn’t busy on set, he had his head down writing and sketching out comedy routines and, in secret, making music. “It was really helpful to go to the top of this car park and just shout,” he says. Now he’s the Comedy Award winner at this year’s Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar.

Visiting the car park provided an outlet for another reason, too. At the time, Rizwan was struggling with his sexuality. Still closeted, he was working through the complex process of self-acceptance that all queer people are familiar with. “I remember thinking that up until that point in my life, everything that left my mouth was filtered or tweaked so that I could feel safe,” he recalls. The car park offered a place where he no longer had to self-edit. Above the rumbling noise of the traffic, he could just release his truth into the void.

“That’s where I first shouted to myself that I was queer,” he says. “I realised that the person I needed to talk to was myself. I was like, ‘What do I feel? What do I truly feel without having to cater to or please other people?’ It took me many years to get there, but it was a really important moment. That car park was important.”

Meeting Rizwan today, it’s difficult to imagine a time when he wasn’t living authentically. When I arrive at the studio to catch the end of his cover shoot, he’s dressed in a tight-fitting black vest and draped in a fabulous denim coat with a train that spreads out behind him. He’s quick to pose for the camera, moving with the effortless cool of someone who is not only used to being photographed, but enjoys it too.

“I’m a Leo, so I love showing off,” he says over dinner at a nearby restaurant once the shoot has wrapped. “At first, I found the photoshoots really weird because it’s not my job; it’s a by-product of my job to do that kind of stuff. But now I’ve really found my enjoyment for it. The fashion. The looks. And working with amazing photographers and makeup artists. It’s just a beautiful extension of my self-expression.”

Undoubtedly, Rizwan has a creative spirit. The 32-year-old has become one of the most exciting voices in British TV thanks, in part, to his critically acclaimed, BAFTA-winning comedy Juice, which was broadcast last year. Rizwan, who wrote the show, plays Jamma, a young and chaotic- yet-loveable gay man balancing his outlandish job in advertising with his relationship with Guy (Russell Tovey) and a complex family life.

A physical approach adds to the humour in Juice: when Jamma is in intense situations, the world around him warps and shifts as if it’s sentient. While he’s having a difficult conversation with his boyfriend in a changing room, the walls start to close in on him — literally. After his father disappears, Jamma reimagines him in puppet form — as a mouse.

A candid conversation with his mother is framed by him stepping onto a film set in 1970s Pakistan. And during a scene where he’s having sex in a bathroom, his climax is brought to life when the room suddenly explodes into a shower of confetti. The result is something brimming with a childlike sense of wonder and imagination.

This is an excerpt from an interview in the Attitude Awards issue 2024. To read the full interview, order your copy now or check out the Attitude app.

Photography Tom Johnson Creative and styling Joseph Kocharian Hair and makeup Josh Knight Manicure Shea Osei at Carol Hayes Management Fashion Assistant Aaron Pandher