Riz Ahmed has already won an Emmy, but he revealed he’s also part of an even more exclusive list: Tom Cruise’s coconut cake list. 

Indeed, the Bait actor revealed that he was added to the circle of Hollywood elite who receive Mission Impossible star’s annual holiday treat from Doan’s Bakery in Hollywood Hills, Calif.. 

“I made one coconut cake list,” Ahmed told Keltie Knight during the Live from E!: 2026 Emmys broadcast Sept. 14. “Let’s see how this year goes.”

And here’s hoping for the Star Wars alum, who is set to star in Digger alongside Cruise, which will hit theaters in October. 

“I’ve got to be honest, I’m not usually a coconut guy, but that cake is bangin',” he mused. “Thank you, Tom. Appreciate it.”

If he is to receive the coconut cake two years in a row, Ahmed is also going to make a point to take a much bigger bite this time around. 

“I didn’t get to taste much of it,” he admitted. “These guys cleaned it up. Family got ahold of it.”

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….

in Christian Siriano (Cuoco) and Giorgio Armani (Pelphrey). 

in Brunello Cucinelli (Mulaney) and FFORME (Munn). 

in Honor, Tyler Ellis bag, and Jessica McCormack jewelry.

in custom Paul Smith (Ford) and Zuhair Murad (Flockhart).