Mahira Khan

Mahira Khan was born on 21 December 1984 into a Muhajir family in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.^[2] 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.^[3] She has a younger brother, Hissan Khan, who is a journalist and entrepreneur.^[4]

She received her early education at Foundation Public School, where she completed her A-Levels.^[5] At the age of seventeen, she moved to California in the United States for higher education and enrolled at Santa Monica College. Mahira was the first woman in her family to travel abroad alone.^[6] She later said that living in the United States on her own helped her become "strong and independent."^[7] She then enrolled at the University of Southern California for a master's degree in English literature. During this period, she worked part-time as a cashier at Rite Aid. Reflecting on the experience, she said: "I used to mop floors, clean floors, run the till and shut the store at night."^[2] After completing her first year, Khan decided to pursue her interest in acting and left her studies, returning to Pakistan.^[5]

While studying in the United States, Khan met businessman Ali Askari in 2005.^[7] She moved back to Pakistan the following year and married him in 2007.^[5] The couple have a son, Azlaan, who was born in 2010. Khan and Askari divorced in 2016 and share custody of their son.^[5] In 2019, she began dating entrepreneur Salim Karim, which she confirmed in an online interview with Hassan Sheheryar Yasin in 2020.^[27] She married Karim in an intimate ceremony on 2 October 2023 in Bhurban.^[28][29]

Khan has also taken part in charitable work. She visited Dubai (along with Maya Ali and then Prime Minister Imran Khan) and Los Angeles to raise funds for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital in 2018 and 2019.^{[citation needed]} She has worked with the UNICEF since 2019,^[30] and was appointed as a national and global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Afghan refugees in Pakistan in the same year. Her work was praised by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres during his visit to Pakistan in February 2020. Khan often speaks on issues such as women's rights, child safety, and gender-based violence. On Women's Day in 2020, she collaborated with Shoaib Mansoor on the music video "Dua-e-Reem".^[31] The song, a modern take on Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua by Allama Iqbal, was set in the pre-partition era and featured her as a young woman reflecting on justice and equality after marriage.^[32] The song was widely praised and became popular across the Indian subcontinent.^[33][34]

In 2018, Khan and her brother Hissan^[4] launched a clothing line, Mashion!.^[35] Later that year, the two founded a media platform of the same name that focuses on empowering women and spreading awareness about mental health in Pakistan.^[36] In 2020, she hosted Khandani Kitchen, a YouTube show by Mashion featuring male celebrities cooking traditional dishes.^[37] In September 2020, she joined the Commonwealth of Nations campaign "No More", raising awareness about sexual and domestic violence.^[38]

On 6 November 2024, Khan received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the UK Parliament for her work as a cultural ambassador and her contributions to women's empowerment.^[39]

Khan is considered as one of Pakistan's most popular and highest-paid actresses.^[40][41][42] She has received several awards and nominations for her acting and fashion work. In 2012, Khan was named the Most Beautiful Woman in Pakistan, and in 2020, she was listed as the 18th "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" by Stylecraze magazine.^[43][44] In Eastern Eye magazine's annual "Sexiest Asian Women" poll, she ranked tenth in 2015, ninth in 2016, fifth in 2017, fourth in 2018, and ninth in 2019.^{[45][46][47][48]} She is among the most followed Pakistani celebrities on Instagram and Twitter.^[49] Khan has hosted several major award shows, including the Lux Style Awards in 2010 and 2015, and the Hum Awards in 2013.^[50][51][52] In December 2016, she became the subject of false online reports after fabricated anti-India comments were circulated ahead of the release of her Bollywood film Raees.^[53]

Khan has served as an ambassador for several national and international brands, including Lux, QMobile, Gai Power Wash, TUC, Huawei, Sunsilk, Veet, and L'Oréal.^{[54][55][56][57]} She is also known for representing Pakistan at major international platforms.^[1][58] In 2018, she represented Pakistan at the Cannes Film Festival, and the following year became the first Pakistani actor to walk at the Paris Fashion Week.^[59][60][61] In 2019, she was appointed the brand ambassador of Peshawar Zalmi, a cricket franchise in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).^[62] That same year, she received the Best International Icon Award at the Dubai International Film Festival.^[63]