Aamina Sheikh

Early life

Sheikh was born in New York City to Abdul Sheikh, a pharmacist by profession. 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.

Sheikh has spent her childhood in Karachi and Riyadh. She received her primary education from Mama Parsi School and secondary from American International School in Riyadh. Sheikh continued further studies in Karachi and did her O and A levels from St.Joseph's Convent and The Lyceum, respectively. Aamina has majored in film video production from Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts and has worked as an assistant at Manhattan-based multi-media company Curious Pictures.

Debut (2003–2007)

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. Set during the time of partition, it is a story of Sheikh Sahab and his friendship with Gurmukh Singh, a revered elder of the neighborhood. In the wake of Partition, Muslims — with the exception of Sheikh Sahib — are leaving a largely Sikh village. Sheikh Sahib is confident that as long as his friend Gurmukh Singh is there no harm can come to him or his family. On the night of Eid, Gurmukh passes away leaving instructions with his son that sweets should be delivered to Sheikh Sahib's house as had been the tradition for decades. His wish is carried out in the morning but in an unexpected way. The telefilm was well received and caught the attention of drama addicts. Aamina first major serial's offer came soon after that with Wilco, the ISPR and 7th Sky Entertainment's joint venture, where she portrayed a woman from Thar desert.

Television serials, modeling and film (2008–present)

She garnered international recognition as a spokesperson for the French beauty brand L'Oreal. 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 soul 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. In the same year Sheikh made her runaway debut with Rehana Saigol’s fashion show. She has done extensive print work for fashion/advertising labels/companies, such as Maria B, 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 Popstar and actor Atif Aslam.

In 2010, Sheikh did Mehreen Jabbar's mega drama serial Daam and Haissam Hussain's Ishq Gumshuda. Both had huge casts and were received well by the audiences and critics.

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 Iman Paveen'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.

In 2013, Sheikh was awarded Miss Photogenic Award at the 1st Veet Celebration of Beauty Awards. The following year, Sheikh appeared in two Music videos. One of them was "Urainge" a tribute to the 2014 Peshawar school massacre, where 142 people were killed including 132 children in a Taliban attack. Sheikh appeared along with fifty actors including Mahira Khan, Fawad Khan, Ali Zafar, Javed Sheikh, Sanam Saeed, Mehreen Raheel, Humaima Malick, Bilal Lashari, Hamza Ali Abbasi and many more. Her second music video was 2015 Cricket World Cup special anthem "Phir Se Game Utha Dein", in support of Pakistan to win the World Cup. Produced by Coke Studio (Pakistan), the anthem also included other actors and singers like Atif Aslam, Neelam Muneer, Adnan Siddiqui and Jimmy Khan.

Personal life

Sheikh is married to seasoned actor and comedian Mohib Mirza. Sheikh had known Mirza since her school days when she was doing English plays with Rahat Kazmi; she officially met Mirza on the sets of Geo Entertainment's Bachay Mann Kay Sachay which she was directing and Mirza was hosting. In 2005, they married each other in an Islamic wedding ceremony at Karachi. The couple gave birth to a daughter, Meissa, who was born on 11 August 2015.

When asked about her family she has a very positive picture of a supporting and caring family: “I take great pride in my family, my support system that is built around me, my husband Mohib Mirza and all our close relations attached to my marriage”.