Mahira Hafeez Khan (; born 21 December 1984) is a Pakistani actress. She started her career as a VJ in 2006. Khan is best known for portraying the role of Khirad Hussain in the romantic-drama Humsafar for which she received numerous accolades, including Lux Style Award for Satellite Best TV Actress and Hum Award for Best On-screen Couple with Fawad Khan. She made her big screen debut opposite Atif Aslam in the romance Bol (2011), which earned her a Lux Style Award for Best Film Actress nomination. Khan made her Bollywood debut in 2017 with action-romance Raees opposite Shah Rukh Khan. She has also acted in successful Pakistani films Bin Roye (2015), Ho Mann Jahaan (2015), 7 Din Mohabbat In (2018) and Superstar (2019). She made her debut as a producer with sports web series Baarwan Khiladi (2022). Early life Khan was born in Karachi, Pakistan on 21 December 1984 to an Urdu-speaking Muhajir family of Pashtun ancestry. Her father, Hafeez Khan, was born in Delhi, British India, and migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India. Khan attended Foundation Public School from where she completed her O-Levels. At the age of 17, she moved to California for higher education, where she attended Santa Monica College. She then enrolled in the University of Southern California for her bachelor's degree. However, she did not complete her undergraduate degree and returned to Pakistan in 2008. During her studies in the United States, she was a cashier at a Rite Aid store in Los Angeles. Personal life Khan met Ali Askari in 2006 in Los Angeles and married him in 2007 in a traditional Islamic wedding ceremony despite Khan's father being reportedly against the marriage. They have a son, born in 2009. The couple got divorced in 2015. Career 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 AAG TV's reality show 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 old part of Lahore, who shares a mutual passion for music with her love interest