Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (born November 12, 1978) is a Canadian-Pakistani journalist, filmmaker and political activist known for her work in films that highlight gender inequality against women.

Obaid-Chinoy is slated to direct the next Star Wars film, due for release in 2026, and which will feature Daisy Ridley.

Obaid-Chinoy was born on 12 November 1978 in Karachi, Pakistan.

Obaid-Chinoy is a Gujarati Muslim, her mother Saba Obaid is a social worker and her father Sheikh Obaid, was a businessman.

She has a younger sister, Mahjabeen Obaid.

Obaid-Chinoy attended Convent of Jesus and Mary, followed by schooling at Karachi Grammar School, where she was the class-fellow of Kumail Nanjiani.

According to her, she was not inclined toward academics though received good grades.

Upon moving to the United States for higher education, she studied at Smith College, from where she completed her bachelor's degree in Economics and Government in 2002.

Later, Obaid-Chinoy received two master's degrees from Stanford University in Communication and International Policy Studies.

Following her education, she moved to Toronto with husband Fahd Chinoy.

She now divides her time between Karachi and Toronto.

In 2002, Obaid-Chinoy returned to Pakistan, and launched her career as a filmmaker.

In 2003 and 2004 she made two award-winning films while at Stanford.

In 2003 and 2004 she made two award-winning films while a graduate student at Stanford University.

She became a Canadian citizen in 2004.

She returned to Pakistan and launched her career as a filmmaker with her first film Terror's Children for The New York Times.

She then began a long association with the PBS TV series Frontline World, where she reported "On a Razor's Edge" in 2004 and went on over the next 5 years to produce many broadcast reports, online videos and written "Dispatches" from Pakistan.

Her most notable films include Children of the Taliban, The Lost Generation, Afghanistan Unveiled, 3 Bahadur, Song of Lahore and the Academy Award-winning Saving Face and A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness.

In 2007, Obaid-Chinoy helped found the Citizens Archive of Pakistan, whose projects center around the preservation of Pakistan's cultural and social heritage.

She also serves as the Ambassador for Blood Safety for Pakistan's national blood safety program.

Sharmeen was ranked 37th on Desiclub.com's list of the 50 Coolest Desis of 2009.

Her most notable projects include the documentaries Saving Face (2012), Song of Lahore (2015) and A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2016), the animated 3 Bahadur films (2015-2018) and the television miniseries Ms. Marvel (2022).

She is the recipient of two Academy Awards, seven Emmy Awards and a Knight International Journalism Award.

In 2012, the Government of Pakistan honoured her with the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the second highest civilian honour of the country, and the same year Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

She holds the records for being the first female film director to have won two Academy Awards by the age of 37 and the first person of Pakistani origin to be nominated for (and to win) the Academy Award for best documentary in the short subject category, and the first person of Pakistani origin to win any Academy Award.

She is also the first non-US-American to win the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.

Her visual contributions have earned her numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Short Subject Documentary (2012 and 2016) and the Emmy Award in the same category (2010 and 2011) and the One World Media Award for Broadcast Journalist of the Year (2007).

Her films have been aired on several international channels, including the PBS, CNN, Discovery Channel, Al Jazeera English and Channel 4.

Obaid-Chinoy has also won six Emmy Awards, including two in the International Emmy Award for Current Affairs Documentary category for the films Pakistan's Taliban Generation and Saving Face.

Her Academy Award win for Saving Face made her the first Pakistani to win an Academy Award, and she is one of only 11 female directors who have ever won an Oscar for a non-fiction film.

She is also the first non-American to win the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.

Obaid-Chinoy is a TED Fellow and the recipient of the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the second highest civilian award in Pakistan Time magazine named Sharmeen in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2012.

On 23 March 2012, Pakistan's president conferred the second highest civilian award, the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, on Obaid-Chinoy for bringing honor to Pakistan as a filmmaker.

In 2012, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy released the 5-part series Ho Yaqeen (To Believe).

In 2014, SOC Films and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy released Aghaz-e-Safar, a 12-episode series for Aaj News which tackled issues affecting ordinary Pakistanis across the country including child abuse, domestic violence, issues of gun violence, water scarcity, land grabbing etc.

In 2014, SOC Films released the 6-part series I Heart Karachi.

The 2015 animated adventure 3 Bahadur made her the first Pakistani to make a computer-animated feature-length film.

The 2015 animated adventure 3 Bahadur made her the first Pakistani to make a computer-animated feature-length film.

On 19 April 2015, Song of Lahore, directed and produced by her and Andy Schocken, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and was the Runner-Up to the Tribeca Audience Choice Award.

In 2017, Obaid-Chinoy became the first artist to co-chair the World Economic Forum.