Aamina Sheikh

She is an ethnic Sindhi. Sheikh married actor Mohib Mirza in Karachi.^[1] Their wedding was a three-day event taking place from 30 April to 2 May 2005. Mirza and Sheikh met on the set of a show which Mirza was hosting and she was directing.^[2] In an interview given to Jang, Mirza revealed that he had a difficult time convincing Sheikh's father to accept his plans for marriage, and that each meeting with him involved "extensive grilling".

Mirza and Sheikh have a daughter, Meissa, born in 2015. The two announced their separation in 2018^[2][3] and divorced in 2019.^[4] Sheikh remarried to a businessman, Omer Farooqi, in August 2020, and the couple gave birth to a son, named Issa, in 2021.^[4]

After returning to Pakistan, Sheikh landed a job with Geo Television, where she directed and produced the children talk show, called Bachey Man Ke Sachey. In 2007, Sheikh made her on-screen debut in Sharjil Baloch and Khalid Ahmed's telefilm, Gurmuck Singh ki Waseeyat. It was based on Saadat Hassan Manto's novel, The Will of Gurmukh Singh.^[5] She subsequently garnered international recognition as a spokesperson for the French beauty brand L'Oreal.^[6][7]

In 2008, Sheikh appeared in three major telefilms: Aasmaan Chu Lay, Pachees Qadam Pe Maut and Baarish Mein Deewar.^[8][9] 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.^[10] In the same year, Sheikh made her runaway debut with Rehana Saigol's fashion show.^[11][12] She has done extensive print work for fashion designers, 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.^[13] Her performances in the romantic series Agar Tum Na Hote (2009), Umm-e-Kulsoom (2011), and Kuch Is Tarah (2013), earned her Satellite Best Actress and Best Actress Terrestrial nominations at Lux Style Awards.^[14] She achieved further critical and commercial success for her role of portrayal of Zarnab, in the romance Armaan (2013), which earned her a nomination for the Tarang Housefull Award for Best Actress.^[6]

In 2011, Sheikh played the role of a grieving mother in Summer Nicks-produced 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 art film Josh: Independence Through Unity, 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.^[15] In 2013, Sheikh was awarded Miss Photogenic Award at the Veet Celebration of Beauty Awards. In 2018, she starred in Asim Abbasi's drama film Cake, alongside Sanam Saeed, which was a major critical and commercial success.^[16][17] While praising her performance, along with Saeed's, The Guardian wrote that they, "rank first among equals in an assured ensemble."^[18] Meanwhile, a reviewer from The Daily Times found that she "amalgamated Zarine’s character really well and made it look believable on screen."^[19] The film earned her a Best Actress nomination at the Lux Style Awards.^{[20][21][22][23]}

• List of Pakistani actresses