Mahira Khan

Mahira Hafeez Khan (born 21 December 1984) is a Pakistani film and television actress. One of the most popular and highest-paid actresses of Pakistan, she is the recipient of several accolades, including seven Lux Style Awards and seven Hum Awards. After working as a video jockey for various television shows, Khan made her acting debut in 2011 with a supporting role in the blockbuster social drama Bol (2011). She then played a troubled wife in the highly successful romantic television drama Humsafar (2011), which won her the Lux Style Awards for Best Television Actress. Khan gained wider recognition for portraying a range of unconventional characters in several highest-rated television series, including the religious drama Shehr-e-Zaat (2012), the biographical romance Sadqay Tumhare (2014), and the romantic drama Bin Roye (2016), all of which earned her several Best Actress awards and nominations.

Khan established herself by starring as the female lead in two of Pakistan's top-grossing productions—the 2015 romantic drama Bin Roye and the 2016 coming-of-age musical drama Ho Mann Jahan. Her first project in the Hindi cinema came with the crime thriller Raees (2017), which ranks among the highest-grossing Indian films of all time, and received critical acclaim for portraying a rape victim in the revenge drama Verna (2017), and an aspiring actress in the musical drama Superstar (2019). Following a short hiatus, Khan took on roles in the 2022 androcentric action films, including the top-grossing Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad and The Legend of Maula Jatt, and produced the sports web-series Baarwan Khiladi (2022).

In addition to acting, Khan promotes social causes such as women's rights and refugee crisis, and is vocal about issues such as child abuse and rapes. She has worked with UNICEF since 2019 and was appointed as the national and global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Afghan refugees in Pakistan in 2019. She has featured as a host for several television and award shows, and is a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products. She is guarded about her personal life, which is a subject of media scrutiny.

Early life and education
Mahira Khan was born on 21 December 1988 into a Pashtun family in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. In an online interview with Reham Khan, she said that her parents are Urdu-speaking Pathans. Her father, Hafeez Khan, was born in Delhi during the British Raj, and migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India. She has a younger brother, Hasan Khan, a journalist and entrepreneur.

Among schools, she attended the Foundation Public School, from where she completed her A'Level. After graduating from Foundation, she, at the age of seventeen, moved to California, United States, for higher education, where she attended the Santa Monica College. Khan was the first women in her family to go out of the country alone. Though, she later admitted that living in the United States on her own helped her become "strong and independent." Khan then enrolled herself at the University of Southern California for a Master's degree in English literature; during this period, she worked as a part-time cashier at Rite Aid. She described the experience: "I used to mop floors, clean floors, run the till and shut the store at night." However, after completing her first year, Khan decided to pursue her interest to become an actress, and quit her university education and returned to Pakistan.

While living in the United States, her friend Ali Askari, introduced her to a reality show director, who selected her for the show Most Wanted, that aired on MTV in 2006. She then featured as a presenter for the Aag TV's reality show Weekends with Mahira (2008). The show proved to be a major hit and became immensely popular among the audience. Her appearance in the show attracted the attention of filmmaker Shoaib Mansoor, who remembered her, and later offered her a role in his film Bol (2011), which she accepted.

Early work (2006–2011)
Khan started her career as a VJ in 2006, hosting the live show Most Wanted on MTV Pakistan, which was aired three days a week. She then hosted a reality show for AAG TV, called Weekends with Mahira. in 2008, where she played music videos, spoke to celebrity guests, and took phone calls from viewers.

In 2011, Khan made her film debut in a supporting role in Shoaib Mansoor-directed Bol, in which she had a supporting role. She played Ayesha, a girl from a conservative lower-middle-class family living in the old part of Lahore who shares a mutual passion for music with her love interest Mustafa, played by Atif Aslam. The film was a critical and commercial success and became one of the highest-grossing Pakistani films of all time. The same year, Khan also made her TV drama debut in Neeyat, directed by Mehreen Jabbar. The serial was set in New York, and she played the role of Ayla.

Breakthrough and recognition (2012–2017)
Khan next appeared in the Sarmad Khoosat-directed drama serial Humsafar. Both the drama and Khan received positive reviews from critics. The drama series was also aired on Zindagi and was a success in India. It earned her a Lux Style Award for Satellite Best TV Actress and a Hum Award for Best Onscreen Couple. In 2013, she played the role in the Sarmad Khoosat-directed Shehr-e-Zaat. The drama earned her Best Actress Awards from the Pakistan Media Awards and Hum Awards. From 2013 to 2014, she hosted TUC The Lighter Side of Life, a talk show.

In 2014, Khan starred in the Mohammed Ehteshamuddin directed drama serial Sadqay Tumhare in which she played the role of Shano. The drama earned her a Lux Style Award for Best TV Actress, two Hum Awards, and a Hum Award nomination. In 2015, she starred opposite Humayun Saeed in Shahzad Kashmiri's directed film Bin Roye. The film earned her a Lux Style Award for Best Actress (Film), a Hum Award for Best Actress, a Hum Style Award for Most Stylish Actress (Film), and a Masala! Award for Best Actress. The film was also adapted as a TV series in 2016, which earned her a Hum Award for Best Actor Female (Drama Serial) and a Hum Award nomination for Best Onscreen Couple. She played a supporting role in Sarmad Khoosat-directed biographical film Manto in 2015.

In 2016, she starred in the Asim Raza-directed film Ho Mann Jahaan, The film earned her a Lux Style Award for Best Actress (Film) and a Nigar Award nomination for Best Actress.

In early 2017, Khan co-starred in Rahul Dholakia's Indian film Raees, which was her debut in the Hindi film industry. Before the release of the film, 'Indian Motion Picture Producers Association' (IMPPA) and 'The Film Producers Guild of India' had decided to ban all Pakistani actors, actresses, and technicians from working in India due to the tensions created after the 2016 Uri attack, until the situation was normalised. Reportedly, there were rumours that Khan's scenes would be deleted from the film or she would be replaced by another actress. Shah Rukh Khan, the lead star and co-producer of the film, said that she would not be allowed to promote the film in India. Khan repeatedly received threats from Shiv Sena, an Indian far-right political party. Despite the controversies, the film was released in January 2017 and was a modest commercial success, earning over ₹3.0 billion (US$39 million) worldwide which made Khan the first Pakistani actress to join Bollywood's 100 Crore Club and become the top grossing actress in Bollywood during the first quarter of 2017.

Success and recent work (2018–present)
Khan began her singing career in 2017, when she starred as a rape victim in Shoaib Mansoor's social drama film Verna. The film received generally unfavourable reviews but her performance was praised and she earned a Lux Style Award for Best Actress in 2018. In 2018, she starred in Meenu Gaur-Farjad Nabi's romantic comedy 7 Din Mohabbat In which was a commercial failure In 2019, she made a special appearance in Asim Raza's Parey Hut Love. The same year, she starred in romantic, musical-drama film Superstar, her highest-grossing film domestically at the time.

In 2022, she starred opposite Fahad Mustafa in Nabeel Qureshi's action-comedy film Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad which opened to mixed reviews from critics. She has also produced a web series titled Baarwan Khiladi, which was released in March 2022. Khan next starred in Bilal Lashari's Punjabi-language action drama film The Legend of Maula Jatt alongside Fawad Khan, which was also starring Hamza Ali Abbasi and Humaima Malik. The film released in October 2022 and was widely praised by critics. however Khan's performance was less well received, Syed Zain Raza of The Friday Times wrote "One can't deny the star power of Mahira, but it would be better to say that this wasn't her film. Mukkho wasn't meant for her" while Siham Basir, of Dawn Images wrote "The only downside for me was Mahira Khan's Mukkho, Her Punjabi accent needed a lot of work because her performance fell flat".

Personal life and off-screen work
While studying in the United States, Khan met businessman, Ali Askari, in 2005. She moved back to Pakistan the following year, and married him in 2007. The couple have a son, Azlaan, who was born in 2010. Khan and Askari divorced in 2016, and jointly shares the custody of their son. In 2019, she began dating Salim Karim, an entrepreneur, which she admitted in an online interview with Hassan Sheheryar Yasin in 2020. Khan married Karim in an intimate ceremony on 2 October 2023 in Bhurban.

Khan visited Dubai (alongwith Maya Ali and the Prime Minister of Imran Khan), and Los Angeles to raise funds for the cancer patients of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, as a part of the project initiated by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan in 2018 and the following year. Khan has been working with the United Nations Children's Fund, since 2019. She was appointed as the national and global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Afghan refugees in Pakistan in the same year, and her efforts were praised by the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres, during his visit to the country in February, 2020. Khan is vocal about issues such as women's rights in Pakistan, the exploitation of children and rape issues. On Women's Day in 2020, she collaborated with Shoaib Mansoor for the third time in the music video "Dua-e- Reem". The song, a modern adaption of the prayer "Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua" by Allama Iqbal, was set in the pre-partitioned era, and featured her as a young women who explains how she would handle any injustice after marriage. Upon release, the song was met with critical acclaim and went on to become widely popular in the Indian subcontinent.

In August 2018, she along with her brother Hasan, launched the clothing line, labelled Mashion!. That same year, she and her brother, founded the media production company, titled as Mashion, that empowers Pakistani women and creates awareness on mental health in the country. In 2020, she began featuring as a host and celebrity chef in the Mashion-produced YouTube show Khandani Kitchen, which invites local male celebrities for cooking. In September 2020, Khan joined the Commonwealth of Nations for the project titled, "No more", to raise awairness about the sexual and domestic violence against women.

Media image
Khan is considered one of the Pakistan's most popular and highest-paid actresses. She has received several awards and nominations for her acting as well as fashion choices. In 2012, Khan was named as the Most Beautiful Woman in Pakistan, and in 2020, she was named as the 18th "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" by the magazine Stylecraze. In 'Sexiest Asian Women' poll by Eastern Eye, she was listed tenth in 2015, ninth in 2016, fifth in 2017, fourth in 2018, and ninth in 2019. Khan is one of the most followed Pakistani celebrities on Instagram and Twitter in the country. Khan has co-hosted several award ceremonies, such as the Lux Style Awards in 2010 and 2015, and the Hum Awards in 2013. In December 2016, Khan became a victim of false news after anti-India comment emerged ahead of the release of her Bollywood film Raees.

Khan has served as the ambassador for a number of brands and products, such as Lux, QMobile, Gai Power Wash, TUC, Huawei, Sunsilk, Veet, and L'Oréal. Khan is known for representing Pakistan at various international platforms. In 2018, She represented Pakistan at the Cannes Film Festival, and the following year, she became the first actress from Pakistan to walk at the Paris Fashion Week. In 2019, she was appointed as the brand ambassador of Peshawar Zalmi, the top-most franchise of the cricketing league Pakistan Super League (PSL). That same year, she was honoured as the Best International Icon at the Dubai International Film Festival.

Accolades
Chopra is the recipient of a total of seven Lux Style Awards. She twice won the Lux Style Award for Best Television Actress for her roles in the series Humsafar (2011) and Sadqay Tumhare (2014), and has won five Lux Style Awards for Best Film Actress for the films Bin Roye, Ho Mann Jahaan (both 2015), Verna (2017) and Superstar (2019).