Aamina Sheikh

Sheikh was born in New York City to Abdul Sheikh, a pharmacist by profession.[4] Sheikh's paternal side of family have established themselves in the textile business, but her father had a passion for chemistry; he pursued it and became a pharmacist. She spent her childhood in Karachi and Riyadh and received her primary education from Mama Parsi School, Karachi and secondary education from the American International School in Riyadh. Sheikh continued further studies in Karachi, and did her O and A levels from St Joseph's Convent School, Karachi and The Lyceum School, respectively. Aamina has majored in film video production from Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts and worked as an assistant at Manhattan-based multi-media company Curious Pictures before returning to Pakistan.

After returning to Pakistan, Sheikh landed a job with Geo Television, where she directed and produced children talkshow Bachey Man Ke Sachey. In 2007, Aamina made her on-screen debut in Sharjil Baloch and Khalid Ahmed's telefilm, Gurmuch Singh ki Waseeyat. It was based on Saadat Hassan Manto's novel, The Will of Gurmukh Singh.[5]

Sheikh with Mahnoor Khan and Jahanzaib Khan performing on song Ko Ko Korina.

She garnered international recognition as a spokesperson for the French beauty brand L'Oreal.[2][6] In 2008, Sheikh appeared in three major telefilms: Aasmaan Chu Lay, Pachees Qadam Pe Maut and Baarish Mein Deewar. Sheikh played a rickshaw driver who's determined to become the sole breadwinner of the family, in Syed Ali Reza's Aasmaan Chu Lay. Sheikh had to learn and drive a rickshaw on Karachi's busiest M.A. Jinnah road and Garden Area, with a massive camera attached to it and had to attract real passengers.[7]

In the same year Sheikh made her runaway debut with Rehana Saigol's fashion show.[4][8] She has done extensive print work for fashion/advertising labels/companies, such as Deepak Perwani, Amir Adnan, Nomi Ansari, Niche Lifestyle, Khaadi, Teejays, The Men's Store, Fahad Hussayn, Hang Ten, Maheen Khan, Umbereen Sharmeen, Chinyere, Crossroads and Limited Edition. In the following year, she did her second photoshoot for Niche Lifestyle, with Atif Aslam.[9] In 2010, Sheikh did Mehreen Jabbar's mega revenge drama Daam and Haissam Hussain's romantic drama Ishq Gumshuda.

In 2011, Sheikh played the role of a grieving mother in Summer Nicks' multi award-winning feature film Seedlings and went on to win New York Film Festival Award for Best Actress and SAARC Film Festival Award for Best Actress. She then went on to play the lead in Iram Parveen Bilal's feature Josh, before taking on the role of Natasha in the high-octane action spy thriller, Operation 021, produced by Zeba Bakhtiar and directed by Australian filmmaker, Summer Nicks.[10] In 2013, Sheikh was awarded Miss Photogenic Award at the 1st Veet Celebration of Beauty Awards.

In 2018, she starred in Asim Abbasi's drama film Cake, which was a critical and commercial success.[11][12] The film earned her a Best Film Actress nomination at the 18th Lux Style Awards.[13]

Sheikh married actor Mohib Mirza, at Karachi.[14] Their wedding was a three-day event taking place from 30 April to 2 May 2005. Mohib and Aamina met on the sets of a show which Mohib was hosting and Aamina was directing.[15] In an interview given to Jang, Mohib revealed that he had the hardest time convincing Aamina's father and that each meeting with him involved "extensive grilling". They have a daughter together, Meissa, born in 2015; they announced their separation in 2018.[15][16]

• List of Pakistani actresses

• "Aamina Sheikh" on Facebook
• Aamina Sheikh on IMDb