List of Pakistani Americans

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The following is a list of notable Pakistani Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Pakistani American or must have references showing they are Pakistani American and are notable.

Politics

Mohammad Arif (b. January 30, 1969) was a 2013 Peace and Freedom candidate in the special election for District 16 of the California State Senate. He previously ran for Governor of California in 2010. Arif was the Secretary of Treasury during Howard Johnson's California Senate Campaign. He was elected Executive Member of the Kern County County Central Committee of the Peace and Freedom Party.

Sada Cumber served as Special Envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on February 27, 2008

• Saqib Ali – Served as Delegate to the Maryland House of Delegates, Elected in 2006, he represented the 39th District.^[1]

Saghir "Saggy" Tahir – New Hampshire State Representative. He was the only elected Pakistani American in the Republican Party.^[2] In the 2006 elections, he was re-elected for a fourth term to represent Ward 2, District 9 in his home town of Manchester.^[3]

• Tahir Ali – The first Pakistani American elected as a National delegate-at-large (R) from Massachusetts in 1992.
• Huma Abedin – Aide to United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who served as traveling chief of staff during Clinton's campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election.^[4]
• Awais Khan – First President and CEO of the American Pakistan Foundation, an organization inaugurated by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as General Colin Powell and Prime Minister Moeen Qureshi, both of whom are co-chairs of the foundation.
• Sada Cumber – First United States Ambassador to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.^[5]
• Shamila N. Chaudhary – U.S. Government policy adviser.^[6]
• Haroon Saleem – Mayor of Granite Falls, Washington.^[7]
• Mohammad Ali Chaudry – Was elected mayor of Bernards Township, New Jersey in 2004. Also a Lecturer at Rutgers School of Business – Camden.^[8]
• Arif Alikhan – Former appointee to the Obama Administration where he served as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at the United States Department of Homeland Security. He is also a former Deputy Mayor of Homeland Security and Public Safety for the City of Los Angeles and visiting Professor of Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the National Defense University's (NDU) College of International Security Affairs in Washington, D.C.
• Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli – White House appointee at various senior posts in the executive branch and the State department during 5 Republican administrations.
• Dr.Gholam Mujtaba - Chairs the Pakistan Policy Institute, a think tank dedicated to improve U.S. Pakistan relationship.

Business and Finance

• Michael Chowdry (1955–2001) – Forbes 400 businessman and later the founder of air cargo company Atlas Air which in 2001 was worth in excess of $1.39 billion.^[9]
• Hammad Siddiqi – Economist and Social Commentator. Received numerous awards in journalism including the Edward F. Tancready Award.^[10]
• Fred Hassan – was the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough from 2003 until November 3, 2009 when the company completed its merger with Merck & Co.^[11]
• Farooq Kathwari – Farooq Kathwari is the Chairman, President and Chief Executive officer of Ethan Allen (furniture company).^[12]
• Safi Qureshey – Former CEO and co-founder of AST Research (a fortune-500 company with revenues in excess of 2.5 billion USD).^[13]
• Shahid Khan – President of Flex-N-Gate Corp., with $2 billion in annual revenue.^[14] In mid-December bought a majority stake of NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars for $760 million.^[15]
• Nabeel Gareeb – was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of MEMC in April 30, 2002.^[16] According to CNN he was the 24th highest paid CEO^[17] in 2006 and according to Forbes he was the 6th highest earning CEO in 2008 in the United States.^[18]
• Tariq Farid – Entrepreneur who is the owner and CEO of Edible Arrangements^[19]
• Atif Sheikh – was the finalist for the new World Trade Center design contest hosted by CNN. He later found Atex Capital Partners (ACP) a combined venture capital firm based in London.
• Ashar Aziz - Professional in computer and information security and founder of the electronic security firm FireEye Inc.
• Atiq Raza – Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Raza Microelectronics, Inc.^[20][21][22]
• Mansoor Ijaz – Businessman, the founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management LLC (CIM), a New York investment partnership since 1990 that includes among others Lt Gen James Alan Abrahamson (USAF Ret), former director of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative and the German architect Joachim Hauser. He is also a commentator on Fox News.^[23]
• Javed Ahmed – currently lives in London, where his headquarters are based. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Tate & Lyle^[24] – a FTSE 250 company which is one of Britain's oldest brands.^[25]
• Syed Moiz Balkhi - Florida based entrepreneur and founder of WPBeginner^[26]
• Imran Anwar – Entrepreneur
• Arsalan Sajjad - Founder & CEO of Red Apple Consultants, LLC. He found Red Apple Consultants, LLC in January 2014. Red Apple Consultants, LLC is known for creating 200 jobs nationwide during its first year.

Academia

Prof. Adil Najam during a talk at Deutsche Welle Building in Bonn, Germany on January 21, 2010

• Ayesha Jalal – MacArthur Fellow and Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University.^[27]
• Gul Agha (computer scientist) Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Professor Akbar S. Ahmed – US resident Pakistani anthropologist. He is a professor at American University.^[28]
• Anwar Shaikh – currently Professor of Economics at the Graduate Faculty of The New School in New York City.^[29]
• Saleem H. Ali – environmental researcher and Associate Dean for Graduate studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. He is a writer and contributor to publications such as the International Herald Tribune. He has dual American and Pakistani citizenship.^[30]
• Talal Asad – Professor of Anthropology and Religious Studies at CUNY.^[31]
• Mohammad Aslam Khan Khalil – Professor of Physics at Portland State University^[32] and is a highly cited researcher in the field of Atmospheric physics.
• Zia Mian – physicist.^[33][34][35]
• Farooq Azam – Distinguished Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD and is a researcher in the field of marine microbiology.^[36]
• Abdul Jamil Tajik – researcher in clinical medicine.^[37]
• Adil Najam – Professor of Geography and International Relations and Director of the Pardee Center at Boston University.^[38] Also founding editor of popular blog Pakistaniat.^[39]
• Asad Abidi – Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.^[40]
• Ahsan Kareem – Robert M. Moran Professor of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.^[41]
• Dr. Bashir A. Syed – Physicist, NASA Scientist and authority on Renewable Energy such as Solar and Wind Energy. Distinguished member of NY Academy of Sciences^[42]
• Dr. Hafeez Malik is Professor of Political Science at Villanova University, in Pennsylvania.^[43]
• Dr Agha Saeed – Founder and Chairman of American Muslim Alliance and a lecturer at California State University, East Bay.
• Sara Suleri – Professor of English at Yale University
• Muhammad Suhail Zubairy – Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and holder of the Munnerlyn-Heep Chair in Quantum Optics at the Texas A&M University^[44]
• Teepu Siddique M.D – Discovered cause of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS and Lou Gehrig’s disease) while employed at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine

^[45]

Literature and art

• Shaila Abdullah – Pakistani women's writer and author.^[46]
• Shahzia Sikander (born 1969 in Lahore, Pakistan) – Pakistan-born American artist who specializes in Pakistani, South Asian and Persian miniature painting. She has also created murals, installations, mixed-media works and performance art. She is a 2006 recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program "genius grant". She currently resides in New York City.^[47]
• Noon Meem Danish – Pakistani poet of African and Baloch descent.^[48]
• Raees Warsi Award-winning famous poet, writer/Founder Of Urdu Markaz New York (Urdu Language Center), in 1989.
• Samina Quraeshi – Award-winning author, artist and designer^[49]
• Kamila Shamsie – Award-winning novelist of books such as Salt and Saffron and Broken Verses.^[50]
• Rob Asghar – Writer and political commentator. His essays and commentaries have appeared in more than 30 newspapers around the world, including The Denver Post, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Japan Times. Asghar has also been a columnist for Creators Syndicate and the Ashland Daily Tidings.^[51]
• Bapsi Sidhwa – Pakistani novelist and playwright of Parsi-Zoroastrian background who now resides in Texas. Her novel Cracking India (which described the Partition of British colonial India) was the basis for Deepa Mehta's film Earth (1998 film).^[52]
• Mohsin Hamid – Bestselling author of books such as Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist.^[53]
• Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi – is an American Muslim author and Islamic teacher^[54]
• Tahmena Bokhari – College Professor in Toronto, a social worker, writer and speaker.^[55]
• Asma Gull Hasan – Award-winning writer. Her work includes the book Red, White, and Muslim, a biographical view of growing up as an American Muslim.^[56]
• Imad Rahman – Fiction writer whose first short story collection was published in 2004.^[57]
• Maliha Masood – Award-winning writer in creative non-fiction and the author of the travel memoir, Zaatar Days, Henna Nights.^[58]
• Rohina Malik – Playwright, actress and solo performance artist.^[59]
• Lubna Agha – Artist
• Zulfikar Ghose – Novelist, poet and essayist.^[60][61]
• Daniyal Mueenuddin – author of the short-story collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders.^[62]
• Muqeem Khan - first Pakistani who started working in the Hollywood VFX industry in 1996.^{[63][64][65][66][67][68][69]}

Health and medicine

• Dr. Ayub K. Ommaya – neurosurgeon and expert in traumatic brain injuries. Invented the Ommaya reservoir, which is used to provide chemotherapy directly to brain tumors.

• Dr. Zaheer Ahmad – Doctor in internal medicine and founder of the Shifa International Hospital.^[70]
• Dr hassan Hashmi -Prominent Surgeon CEO and Principle Owner of the Texas General Hospital^[71]

Media and entertainment

There are Urdu radio stations in areas with high Pakistani population. Several cable and satellite providers offer Pakistani channels: GEO TV,^[72] ARY Digital,^[73] PTV,^[74] and many more. Others have offered Pakistani content for subscription, such as when Pakistan played Australia for the Cricket World Cup in 1999. In July 2005, MTV premiered a spin-off network called MTV Desi which targets South Asian Americans in the U.S. which includes Pakistanis.^[75] MTV Desi closed operations as part of the shutdown of MTV World in April 2007.^[76]

• Salman Ahmad – of Junoon^[77] has members from the United States and the founder Salman Ahmad now resides in New York and is a UN Goodwill Ambassador.^[78][79]
• Shayan Farooqi - Model and winner of Mr. Pakistan World 2013.
• Thomas Umer Tevana – Actor with notable work in Hollywood and Bollywood. Voted one of PEOPLE Magazine's (USA) "50 Hottest People" and noted as one of the magazine's "Guys on the Rise". Previously a model with the esteemed Wilhelmina Models agency in New York.
• Somy Ali – of Iraqi and Pakistani descent. Former Bollywood actress and now model and journalist.^[80]

Munni Begum – Ghazal Singer

• Munni Begum – Real name Nadira, a Ghazal Singer from Pakistan, based in Chicago, IL.^[81]
• Salman Bokhari – American born actor of Pakistani descent raised in Lahore. Known for his roles in various films and TV drams like NCIS (TV Series) and Touch (TV series).^[82]
• Nadia Ali – Grammy nominated singer-songwriter and former frontwoman of iiO known best for her song "Rapture". Ali is one of the prominent vocalists of electronic dance music having collaborated with DJs like Armin van Buuren, John Creamer & Stephane K and BT.
• Bohemia – Pakistani American Rapper from San Francisco. His music has been widely played in the American clubbing scene. He has a large underground following and is widely recognized as the pioneer of Desi Hip Hop.^[83]
• GQ (actor) – Gregory J. Qaiyum, American actor, writer and MC. Son of a Caucasian American mother of German and English descent and a Pakistani father.^[84]
• Syma Chowdhry – Award winning television host, reporter, producer, news writer, model and actress.^[85]
• Fareed Haque – Guitarist of Pakistani and Chilean descent.^[86]
• Mehr Hassan – Indian father, Pakistani mother. Actress, model and classical dancer.^[87]
• Zurain Imam – Born in Chittagong, Bangladesh is a US-Pakistani print and broadcast fashion journalist.^[88]
• Mehreen Jabbar^[89] – is a Director and has recently directed Ramchand Pakistani which was nominated for World Narrative Feature Competition in Tribeca Film Festival in New York.^[90]
• JAQ – Jeffery Ameen Qaiyum, is an American professional b-boy, writer and MC. Brother of GQ.^[91]
• Christel Khalil – Is of mixed Pakistani and African American descent. She is best known for her role as Lily Winters on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless.^[92]
• Zaigham Khan – Pakistani American VJ, host, dancer, and actor.
• MC Lazarus – Real name Kamran Rashid Khan, b. July 17, 1982 is a hip hop artist from Detroit, Michigan. The Discovery Channel featured him on a documentary called "The Real 8 Mile" which focuses on how he balanced his life as a hip hop artist and as a medical student^[93] at Wayne State University.
• Asieh Namdar – Born in Karachi, Pakistan to Iranian parents.^[94]
• Kumail Nanjiani -Pakistani born American actor and comedian best known for his role agoraphobic attorney Pinder Singh on the comedy legal television series Franklin & Bash.
• Kamran Pasha – Hollywood screenwriter and director, most famous for writing the Showtime hit series Sleeper Cell.^[95]
• Munaf Rayani – Guitarist for the Texan post-rock band Explosions in the Sky.^[96]
• Iqbal Theba – Has starred in numerous American sitcoms but most famous for playing Principal Figgins in the show Glee
• Dilshad Vadsaria – of Portuguese and Pakistani descent. An American television actress, she played the role of Rebecca Logan on the ABC television program Greek.^[97][98]
• Hassan Zee – Writer, producer and director. Wrote, produced and directed Night of Henna, the first Pakistani-American film in history distributed all over US theatrically.^[99]
• Naureen Zaim – Half Pakistani half Irish model, actress and athlete.^[100]
• Sadia Shepard – Film maker
• Sameer Asad Gardezi -Pakistani-American screenwriter for film and television best known for his work on Modern Family.
• Tiffany Taylor (pornographic actress) – of half Pakistani descent
• Nargis Fakhri – Actress and model
• Aamina Sheikh – Actress and model best known for portraying the main leads films Seedlings, Armaan and Josh.
• Mahnoor Baloch – A Pakistani actress and model. Made her Hollywood Debut movie "Torn"
• Saeeda Imtiaz – Pakistani-American actress, Saeeda has worked in an upcoming film Kaptaan.
• Zeeshan Zaidi – Lead singer and guitarist for The Commuters
• Faran Tahir - Pakistani American actor who was born in the United States but was raised Pakistan.

Pakistani American Miss Pakistan World beauty queens

• Natasha Paracha – Natasha Paracha born in Islamabad, Pakistan, now living in New York City, USA became Pakistan's 6th Miss Pakistan World 2008.^[101]
• Ayesha Gilani – Ayesha Gilani, from Lahore, Pakistan now living in Washington DC, became Pakistan's 7th Miss Pakistan World 2009.^[102]
• Mariyah Moten – Born in Karachi, Pakistan now living in Houston Texas, became Pakistan's first Miss Pakistan Bikini and was exposed to the biggest entertainment controversy.^[103] She was the third runner up in the Miss Pakistan World pageant.^[104]
• Saman Hasnain – Born in Lahore, Pakistan now living in San Francisco, USA became Pakistan's second Mrs. Pakistan World 2008.^[105]
• Shanzay Hayat – Shanzay Hayat,^[106] from Waziristan, Pakistan now living in New York City, USA, became Pakistan's 11th Miss Pakistan World^[107] 2013.
• Mariam Mohammad - is the 7th Mrs. Pakistan World^[108] 2014 and belongs to Seattle, USA.
• Aatka Feroz - winner of Miss Pakistan World 2014. She is originally from Lahore and lives in Lombard, Illinois. She was only 19 years old when she won the title. making her the youngest title winner ever.

Military

• Commander Muhammad Muzzafar F. Khan – the first Pakistani-American to take command of an operational aviation squadron in the U.S. Navy. He commands the Sea Control "Topcats" Squadron.^[109]
• Sergeant Wasim Khan of United States Army- the first Pakistani-American to received Purple Heart after his heroic actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom.^[110]

Sports

• Farhan Zaidi – General Manager, Los Angeles Dodgers ^[111]
• Nur B. Ali – racecar driver who drives in the ARCA Series for Cunningham Motorsports. He is the first Pakistani to become a racing driver, and a former two-time Southwest Formula Mazda Series Champion (2001 & 2002).^[112]
• Hasan Habib – Professional poker player.^[113]
• Rashid Zia – American cricketer. Represented the United States in the ICC trophy in 2001.^[114]
• Nasir Javed – American cricketer^[115]
• Gibran Hamdan – First person of Pakistani descent to play in the NFL.

Militants with Pakistani origin

• Jubair Ahmad – sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2012 for supporting designated foreign terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba.^[116]
• Farooque Ahmed – sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2011 for plotting to bomb Washington Metro.^[117]
• Syed Haris Ahmed – sentenced to 13 years in prison and 30 years of supervised release for supporting terrorism.^[118]
• Iyman Faris – sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2003 for supporting Al-qaeda.^[119]
• Hamid Hayat – convicted & sentenced to 24 years in prison for attending an al-Qaeda terrorist training camp in Pakistan and lying about it to FBI.^[120]
• David Headley – pleaded guilty to helping Lashkar-e-Taiba carry out 2008 Mumbai attacks.^[121]
• Uzair Paracha – sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2006 for providing support to al-Qaeda.
• Faisal Shahzad – convicted Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan operative sentenced to life in prison for 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt.^[122]
• Shahawar Matin Siraj – Islamist sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to plant a bomb in the 34th Street – Herald Square station of the New York City Subway.^[123]
• Syed Fahad Hashmi – sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2010 for aiding al-Qaeda.^[124]
• Mohammed Junaid Babar – sentenced for helping July 7, 2005 London bombings accused Mohammad Sidique Khan.^[125]
• Samir Khan – editor of Al-Qaeda web magazine Inspire, killed along with Anwar al-Awlaki in a drone strike in Yemen.^[126]

Other

• Mohammed Salman Hamdani – (1978 – September 11, 2001) was a young Muslim Pakistani American medical student who was killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, while rescuing victims of the World Trade Center.^{[127][128][129]}
• Aasiya Zubair – With her husband Muzzammil Hassan, found and owned Bridges TV, the first American Muslim television network broadcast in English. In February 2009, she was found dead; her estranged husband turned himself to the police station and was charged with 2nd degree murder.^[130]
• Abdul Malik Mujahid – American Muslim religious leader, activist, film producer, and non-profit entrepreneur.^[131]
• Ahmad Adaya (1927–2006) – Was an American Muslim real estate tycoon and philanthropist who was the founding partner of a prominent California real estate company IDS Real Estate Group^[132]
• Arsalan Iftikhar an American international human rights lawyer headquartered in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. He is the founder of TheMuslimGuy and serves as Contributing Editor for Islamica magazine.^[133]
• Faisal Alam – Gay Pakistani-American who founded the Al-Fatiha Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing the cause of gay, lesbian and transgender Muslims.^[134]
• Jilani Humayun – Arms trader who was arrested in New York on July 19, 2007.^[135]
• Riffat Hassan – Theologian and Islamic feminist scholar of the Qur'an.^[136]
• Sheikh Azeem Aziz – Muslim scholar and Mufti.^[137]
• Yasmin Aga Khan – American-Pakistani philanthropist known for raising public awareness of Alzheimer's disease.^[138]

See also

• Pakistani American
• Pakistan – United States relations
• Pakistani Canadian
• List of Pakistani Canadians
• List of British Pakistanis

References