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.


Academia, science and technology

* Abdul J. Tajik – researcher in clinical medicine *
Adil Haider Adil Haider is a Pakistani–American trauma surgeon, public health researcher and the Dean of medical college at the Aga Khan University. He is also the co-founder of Doctella, an online application to enhance doctor-patient communication. Hai ...
– trauma surgeon and former Kessler Director for the Center for Surgery and Public Health, a joint initiative of the
Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts Gener ...
and Harvard Medical School * Adil Najam – professor of earth, environment and international relations and dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University; founding editor of blog Pakistaniat *
Ahsan Kareem Ahsan Kareem is the Robert M. Moran Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences (CEEES) at the University of Notre Dame. He is Director of the Nathaz Modeling Laboratory and served as the past ...
– Robert M Moran Professor of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame; director of the NatHaz Modeling Laboratory; member of the US, Chinese, Japanese and Indian Academies of Engineering *
Akbar S. Ahmed Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed, is a Pakistani-American academic, author, poet, playwright, filmmaker and former diplomat. He currently is a professor of International Relations and holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the American Universi ...
– U.S. resident Pakistani anthropologist; the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at
American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
; producer of the film ''Journey Into Europe'', on Islam in Europe *
Ali S. Khan Ali S. Khan is an American practicing physician and former Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since July 2014, he has served as Dean of the College of Public ...
– surgeon and former director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention * Anwar Shaikh – professor of economics at the graduate faculty of The New School in New York City * Asad Abidi – professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles; member of the National Academy of Engineering * Ashar Aziz – electrical engineer, business executive and founder of FireEye * Azra Raza – Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine and director of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) Center at Columbia University. * Atif Mian – professor of economics at Princeton University * Ayesha JalalMacArthur Fellow and Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University *
Ayub K. Ommaya Ayub Khan Ommaya MD, ScD (hc), FRCS, FACS (1930 - 2008) was a Pakistani American neurosurgeon and the inventor of the Ommaya reservoir. The reservoir is used to provide chemotherapy directly to the tumor site for brain tumors. Ommaya was also a ...
– neurosurgeon and expert in traumatic brain injuries, clinical researcher at the National Institutes of Health; invented the Ommaya reservoir, which is used to provide chemotherapy directly to brain tumors * Azra Raza – Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine and director of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) Center at Columbia University. *
Farooq Azam Farooq Azam (born in Lahore, Pakistan ) is a researcher in the field of marine microbiology. He is a Distinguished Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at the University of California San Diego. Farooq Azam grew up in Lahore and ...
– distinguished professor at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for oceanography, ocean and Earth science research ...
, University of California, San Diego; researcher in the field of marine microbiology * Gul Agha – professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign *
Hafeez Malik Hafeez Malik () (1930, Lahore – 20 April 2020)Pakistani scholar dies in US quietly
Dawn (ne ...
– professor of political science at Villanova University, in Pennsylvania * Hamid Nawab – professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering, Boston University; co-author of widely used textbook ''Signals and Systems'' (1997), published by
Prentice Hall Prentice Hall was an American major educational publisher owned by Savvas Learning Company. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market, and distributes its technical titles through the Safari B ...
( Pearson); researcher in signal processing and
machine perception Machine perception is the capability of a computer system to interpret data in a manner that is similar to the way humans use their senses to relate to the world around them. The basic method that the computers take in and respond to their environm ...
with application to auditory, speech, and neuromuscular systems * Irfan Siddiqi – professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and also vice chair of the university's department of physics *
Mark S. Humayun Mark S. Humayun is a Pakistani-American ophthalmologist, engineer, scientist, inventor and academic – the only ophthalmologist elected a member of both U.S. National Academies of Medicine and Engineering. He is a university professor with joint ...
– professor of ophthalmology at
Keck School of Medicine The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California teaches and trains physicians, biomedical scientists and other healthcare professionals, conducts medical research, and treats patients. Founded in 1885, it is the second oldest ...
, University of Southern California, holder of the Cornelius J. Pings Chair in Biomedical Sciences, and director of USC Eye Institute and Institute For Biomedical Therapeutics * Muhammed S. 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 * Mujaddid A. Ijaz – physicist known for his work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, professor of physics at Virginia Tech * Nergis Mavalvala – Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and 2010 MacArthur Fellow; part of the team that made the first direct gravitational wave observation. Dean of MIT's School of Science. * Saleem H. Ali – environmental researcher and associate dean for graduate studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources; writer and contributor to publications such as the ''
International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
'' * Rayid Ghani – senior fellow and director of the Center for Data Science and Public Policy at the Computation Institute (a joint initiative of the University of Chicago and the
Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a science and engineering research United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory operated by University of Chicago, UChicago Argonne LLC for the United States Department of Energy. The facil ...
), as well as the research director of the institute. Also a senior fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy of the University of Chicago. *
Sara Suleri Sara Goodyear ( Suleri; June 12, 1953 – March 20, 2022) was a Pakistan-born American author and professor of English at Yale University, where her fields of study and teaching included Romantic and Victorian poetry and an interest in Edmund ...
– professor of English at Yale University *
Shahab Ahmed Shahab Ahmed (; December 11, 1966 – September 17, 2015) was a Pakistani scholar of Islam at Harvard University. Professor Elias Muhanna of Brown University described Ahmed's posthumous work ''What Is Islam?'' as "a strange and brilliant work, e ...
– Scholar of Islam at Harvard University * Syra Madad – pathogen preparedness expert and infectious disease epidemiologist * Talal Asad – professor of anthropology and religious studies at
CUNY , mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind , budget = $3.6 billion , established = , type = Public university system , chancellor = Fél ...
*
Wasiullah Khan Mohammad Wasiullah Khan is the founder and chancellor of East-West University, a private, non-profit, non-denominational college based in Chicago's South Loop neighbourhood. He is also a veteran of the Pakistani educational system, working in the ...
– founder and chancellor of
East-West University East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...
*
Zaheer Ahmad Zaheer Ahmad ( ur, ) was a Pakistani American medical doctor who was credited as being the founder and chief executive of the Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad. In 2011, he came under media attention when the United States accused him of ...
– doctor in internal medicine; founder of the Shifa International Hospital *
Zia Mian Zia Mian (Urdu: ضياء میاں ) is a Pakistani-American physicist, Nuclear engineering, nuclear expert, nuclear policy maker and research scientist at Princeton University. Currently, he is the director of the Project on Peace and Securit ...
– physicist and co-director of the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University


Business and finance

* Farooq Kathwari – chairman, president and chief executive officer of
Ethan Allen Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, lay theologian, American Revolutionary War patriot, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for ...
* Fred Hassan – chairman of the board and chief executive officer of pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough from 2003 to 2009, when the company completed its merger with
Merck & Co Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and is named for Merck Group, founded in Germany in 1668, of whom it was once the American arm. The company does business as Merck Sharp ...
*
Ghulam Bombaywala Ghulam Mohammed "Bombay" Bombaywala is a Pakistani-American restaurateur in Houston.Javed Ahmed Javed Ahmed (born 10 February 1960) is a Pakistani American businessman. He was the chief executive (CEO) of Tate & Lyle plc from 2009 to 2018. Early life Ahmed graduated from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1982, and receive ...
– currently lives in London, where his headquarters are; former chief executive officer of Tate & Lyle, a FTSE 250 company which is one of Britain's oldest brands *
Mansoor Ijaz Mansoor Ijaz (born August 1961) is a Pakistani-American venture financier and hedge-fund manager. He is founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management Ltd, a New York and London-based investment firm that operates ''CARAT'', a proprietary ...
– businessman; founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management LLC, a New York investment partnership; commentator on Fox News *
Michael Chowdry Michael A. Chowdry (1954-2001) was a Pakistani-American businessman who became the founder of American-based cargo carrier Atlas Air in 1992. He was on the Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $920 million, ranked among the richest American busines ...
– businessman; founder of air cargo company Atlas Air, which in 2001 was worth over $1.39 billion *
Nabeel Gareeb Nabeel Gareeb is a Pakistani-American businessman. He was the president and chief executive officer as well as a member of the board of directors of MEMC (now SunEdison) between 30 April 2002 and 12 November 2008. Education Gareeb was born in ...
– appointed president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of MEMC in 2002; according to CNN he was the 24th highest paid CEO in 2006; according to '' Forbes'' he was the 6th highest earning CEO in 2008 in the US *Qasim Khan - International automotive business management executive who has served with General Motors Company since 1999 at various International operations in Middle East, Russia/ CIS, South Korea and Middle East operations while his US assignments were based at company's offices in New York (Cadillac Global HQ), Miami (Latin American HQ) and Michigan. *
Ramesh Balwani Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani (born ) is an American convicted fraudster, businessman and former president and chief operating officer of Theranos, which was a privately held health technology company founded by his then-girlfriend Elizabeth Holmes. He ...
– businessman; former president and COO of Theranos *
Safi Qureshey Safi Urrehman Qureshey is a Pakistani-American entrepreneur. He was the co-founder and CEO of AST Research, Inc., a personal computer manufacturer acquired by Samsung Electronics in 1997. Qureshey is involved with several start-up technology com ...
– former CEO and co-founder of AST Research, a Fortune 500 company with revenues over US$2.5 billion *
Shahid Khan Shahid Rafiq Khan ( ur, ; born July 18, 1950)"Sha ...
– president of Flex-N-Gate Corp., with $2 billion in annual revenue; in mid-December 2011 bought a majority stake of
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
team Jacksonville Jaguars for $760 million *
Sohaib Abbasi Sohaib Abbasi (born August 14, 1956) is a Pakistani-American business executive, computer scientist and philanthropist. He is the former chairman and chief executive of Informatica having served in the roles from 2004 until 2015. During his tenure ...
– former chairman and CEO of Informatica *
Tariq Farid Tariq Farid is an American entrepreneur who is the Founder of Edible Arrangements, Edible Arrangements International Inc. In 2009 he was recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year by the International Franchise Association.Edible Arrangements *
Zia Chishti Muhammad Ziaullah Khan Chishti (born 1971) is a Pakistani-American investor and business executive. He is the founder of Afiniti and TRG Pakistan, TRG Global. After starting his career as a Morgan Stanley investment banker, Chishti invented the ...
– founder, CEO and chairman of the board of directors of Afiniti. *
Osman Rashid Osman Rashid is a Pakistani American businessman in Silicon Valley, California. He has worked in enterprise software and consumer products. He was co-founder and CEO of three companies, an online textbook rental and student hub Chegg, remaining i ...
– co-founder of Chegg


Media, art and entertainment

There are Urdu radio stations in areas with high Pakistani populations. Several cable and satellite providers offer Pakistani channels, including GEO TV,
ARY Digital ''ARY Digital'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani pay television network available in Pakistan, the Middle East, North America and Europe. The ARY Group of companies is a Dubai-based holding company founded by a Pakistani businessman, Abdul Razzak Yaqoob ...
, and PTV. Others have offered Pakistani content for subscription, such as when Pakistan played Australia for the
Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...
in 1999. In July 2005, MTV premiered a spin-off network called
MTV Desi MTV Desi is a digital platform from MTV that targeted Desis (people of South Asian origin) in the United States, as the name implies. The network features various styles of music such as electronic tabla music and English-Gujarati hip-hop, inters ...
which targets South Asian Americans in the US, including Pakistanis. MTV Desi closed operations as part of the shutdown of MTV World in April 2007. *
Adam Amin Adam Amin (born December 19, 1986) is an American sportscaster. Amin joined Fox Sports in June 2020 as a play-by-play announcer for MLB and NFL games after previously working for ESPN from 2011-2020. He is also the television play-by-play annou ...
– sports announcer for ESPN * Bassam Tariq – film director * Fahad Azam – rapper going by the stage name of Mr. Capone-E * Fahad Rehmani – Actor, television director and drama producer *
Fareed Haque Fareed Haque is an American jazz guitarist, based in Chicago, Illinois. Education Haque was born in Chicago in 1963. His father was from Pakistan, his mother was from Chile. When he was a child, Haque traveled with his parents all over the worl ...
– guitarist of Pakistani and Chilean descent *
Aishah Hasnie Aishah Hasnie (born ) is an Emmy-nominated Pakistani-American television journalist for Fox News based in New York City who serves as a daytime news correspondent. Biography Hasnie was born in Lahore, Pakistan on October 4, 1985. Many of Hasnie ...
– television reporter and news anchor for Fox News *
Christel Khalil Christel Adnana Mina Khalil (born November 30, 1987) is an American actress. Background Khalil was born in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California, to a mother of Native American, African American, and European descent and a Pakistani ...
– of mixed Pakistani and African American descent * Aamina Sheikh – actress and model * Faran Tahir – actor; born in the U.S. but was raised in Pakistan * Dilshad Vadsaria – Pakistani American of Indian and Portuguese descent; television actress, '' Greek'' * Gregory J. Qaiyum – stage name GQ, American actor of German, English and Pakistani descent * Iqbal Theba – starred in numerous American sitcoms but most famous for playing Principal Figgins on the show ''
Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...
'' *
Jahan Yousaf Krewella is an American electronic dance music band from the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Illinois, United States, that formed in 2007. Their musical style has been mainly described as EDM, dance-rock, and dance-pop. However, Krewella's style ...
– part of EDM duo Krewella * Jeffery A. Qaiyum – stage name JAQ; American professional b-boy of German, English and Pakistani descent * Kamran Rashid Khan – stage name Lazarus, physician and rapper from Detroit *
Kamran Pasha Kamran Pasha ( ur, ; born on 3 April 1972) is an American Hollywood screenwriter, director and novelist of Pakistani origin. He was a writer and producer on the NBC series '' Kings'', after working as a producer on NBC's '' Bionic Woman''.. Previ ...
– Hollywood screenwriter and director; wrote the Showtime hit series '' Sleeper Cell'' *
Kumail Nanjiani Kumail Ali Nanjiani (; ur, کمیل علی ننجیانی, ; born May 2, 1978) is a Pakistani-American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019) and for co-wri ...
– actor and
comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...
, '' Franklin & Bash'', '' Silicon Valley''. *
Lubna Agha Lubna Agha (May 2, 1949 - May 6, 2012) was an American artist of Pakistani descent who lived in Brookline, Massachusetts. Her work has been exhibited in art museums and galleries in Pakistan and the United States, as well as Britain, Ja ...
– artist * Maheen Rizvi – Pakistani-American TV model and actress *
Mehr Hassan Mehrun Nissa Hassan, commonly known as Mehr Hassan, is an American actress, model, and classical dancer. Personal life and education Hassan is the daughter of religious theologian Riffat Hassan. She was born to a Pakistani mother and an India ...
– Indian father, Pakistani mother; actress, model and classical dancer * Mehreen Jabbar – film director *
Minhal Baig Minhal Baig is an American director, producer, and writer from Chicago, Illinois. She has written and directed two films, ''1 Night'' and '' Hala'', and written for the television shows '' Ramy'' and ''Bojack Horseman''. Early life Minhal Baig ...
– film director * Munaf Rayani – guitarist for the
Texan Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...
post-rock band Explosions in the Sky *
Munni Begum Nadira Begum ( ur, ), better known by her pseudonym title, Munni Begum ( ur, ) is a Pakistani vocalist and ghazal singer. Early life Munni Begum was born Nadira Begum in Murshidabad (now in West Bengal, India) in 1946. The third child of sev ...
– born Nadira; ghazal singer from Pakistan; based in Chicago, Illinois * Muqeem Khan – first Pakistani in the
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
VFX industry, 1996• “Blending Real With Virtual”, Qatar Tribune, Doha, Qatar, May, 2009.''
/ref>• “Digital age in Pakistan not a distant dream”, The News, Karachi, Pakistan, January, 2011.''
/ref>'' • Final-Fantasy-the-Spirits-Within - Cast, Crew, Director and Awards - NYTimes.com. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2013, from http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/246683/Final-Fantasy-the-Spirits-Within/credits''
/ref> * Nadia Ali – songwriter and former frontwoman of iiO * Nadia Ali – erotic dancer and former actress in pornographic films * Nargis Fakhri – actress and model of half Pakistani and half Czech descent * Naureen Zaim – half Pakistani, half Irish; model, actress and athlete * Roger David – stage name Bohemia, rapper from San Francisco *
Romil Hemnani Brockhampton (stylized in all caps) was an American hip hop music, hip hop collective founded in 2010 as AliveSinceForever in San Marcos, Texas. Led by Kevin Abstract and formed partially through online music discussion forum KanyeToThe, Brockha ...
– record producer, recording engineer, and DJ best known for being one of the main producers for American hip hop band
BROCKHAMPTON Brockhampton may refer to: *Brockhampton (band), an American self-described "boy band" and music collective *Brockhampton, Gloucestershire, Cotswold, England * Brockhampton, Tewkesbury, a location In geography, location or place are used to deno ...
* Sadia Shepard – filmmaker and author * Saeeda Imtiaz – Pakistani-American actress *
Salman Ahmad Salman Ahmad ( ur, , born 12 December 1963) is a Pakistani born-American musician, rock guitarist, physician, activist, occasional actor and professor at the City University of New York. He earned nationwide popularity in 1998 for his uni ...
– founder and member of Junoon; lives in New York; a UN Goodwill Ambassador * Sameer A. Gardezi – Pakistani-American screenwriter for film and television best known for his work on '' Modern Family'' *
Samia Khan Samia Khan (born April 4, 1985) is a Pakistani American writer, producer, actress, blogger and news personality who most recently co-hosted FOX News Now, a digital news operation based in Phoenix, Arizona. She made headlines in November 2016 after ...
– Pakistani-American writer and news personality *
Shahzia Sikander Shahzia Sikander (born 1969, in Lahore, Pakistan) is a Pakistani-American visual artist. Sikander works across a variety of mediums, including drawing, painting, printmaking, animation, installation, performance and video. Sikander currently lives ...
– painter * Shams Charania – prominent
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
reporter for '' The Athletic'' *
Sitara Hewitt Sitara Hewitt (also known as Tara Hewitt; born 27 December 1981) is a Canadian Americanhttps://www.instagram.com/sitara_hewitt/p/CPPgrdrtAHJ/ film and television actress. Background Sitara Hewitt is the daughter of a Pakistani mother, Dr. Fari ...
– Canadian-American actress *
Somy Ali Somy Ali ( ur, سومی علی, ar, سومي علي; born 25 March 1976)Singh, Prashant (30 April 2012Salman helps Somy Ali's charity foundation ''Hindustan Times'' is a Pakistani-American actress, writer, filmmaker, model and activist who has ...
– former Bollywood actress, now model and journalist * Sophia Ali - Pakistani-American actress * Sumail Hassan – professional
Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota 2' ...
player, part of the team Evil Geniuses *
Syma Chowdhry Syma Chowdhry is a television host, reporter, producer, news writer, model and actress. She currently works for News 12 New Jersey. Career Chowdhry began her broadcasting career at News 14 Carolina in 2004 and later moved to News 12 New Jersey. ...
– television personality * Yasmine Yousaf – part of EDM duo Krewella *
Zehra Fazal Zehra Fazal is an American voice actress, known for voicing Nadia Rizavi in '' Voltron: Legendary Defender'' and Halo and Bluebird in '' Young Justice: Outsiders''. Greg Weisman, the co-creator of ''Young Justice: Outsiders'' said "I wrote the rol ...
– actress and comedian


Military

*Colonel Fazal Hussain of the United States Air Force – received Defense Meritorious Service Medal and Joint Service Commendation Medal for his distinguished accomplishments and outstanding contributions as a senior leader. *Captain Humayun Khan of the United States Army – received Purple Heart and Bronze Star for heroic actions during
Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
*Specialist Kareem R.S Khan of the U.S. Army – recipient of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for heroic actions during Operation Iraqi Freedom


Pageant winners

* Mariyah Moten – born in Karachi, Pakistan; now living in
Houston Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
; Pakistan's first Miss Pakistan Bikini; third runner-up in the
Miss Pakistan World Miss Pakistan World is a beauty pageant for women of Pakistani descent from around the world. The event is held annually in Canada. History The pageant was originally launched in 2002 by Sonia Ahmed under the name of Miss Canada Pakistan. ...
pageant *
Ramina Ashfaque Miss Earth 2017, the 17th edition of the Miss Earth pageant, with the theme "Heroines fighting climate change", was held on November 4, 2017 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. Katherine Espín of Ecuador crowned her ...
Miss Pakistan World Miss Pakistan World is a beauty pageant for women of Pakistani descent from around the world. The event is held annually in Canada. History The pageant was originally launched in 2002 by Sonia Ahmed under the name of Miss Canada Pakistan. ...
2016–2017; from Miami, Florida


Politics, government and law

* Abid Riaz Qureshi – attorney and legal partner at Latham & Watkins, member of Legal Ethics Committee of District of Columbia Bar and former nominee for federal judge of United States District Court for the District of Columbia *Ameena Mohyuddin Zia, PhD - former Political Appointee of St. Louis County Government and founder of Blue Ridge Impact Consulting * 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; former deputy mayor of homeland security and public safety for the City of Los Angeles; visiting professor of homeland security and counterterrorism at the National Defense University's (NDU) College of International Security Affairs in Washington, D.C. * Atif Qarni
Virginia Secretary of Education The Secretary of Education is a member of the Virginia Governor's Cabinet. The office is currently vacant. List of Secretaries of Education * Earl J. Shiflet (1972–1974) * Vacant (1974–1976)From 1974 to 1976, Governor Godwin's chief of sta ...
in the Cabinet of Governor Ralph Northam * Ali Zaidi – lawyer and policy advisor, Deputy
White House National Climate Advisor The White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy (also known as the Climate Policy Office) is an office within the White House Office that is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. It is headed by the Assistant to th ...
* Dilawar Syed – Nominated for Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration. * Ehsan Zaffar – senior U.S. government advisor on civil rights *
Faiz Shakir Faiz Shakir (; born 1979) is an American Democratic political advisor. He serves as senior advisor to Bernie Sanders and executive director of the nonprofit media organization ''More Perfect Union''. Previously, he was campaign manager for Bern ...
– political advisor, campaign manager for the
Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign The 2020 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders was an election campaign from the junior United States senator and former representative from Vermont. It began with Sanders's formal announcement on February 19, 2019. The announcement followe ...
*
Gholam Mujtaba Golam Mujtaba ( ur, ) (born 16 December 1955) is a Pakistani-American Muhajir politician. He served as the provincial advisor in Sindh from 1992 to 1994. He was the leader of the coalition party to the Sindh Government from 1992 to 1994. Previ ...
– chair of the Pakistan Policy Institute, a think tank dedicated to improve the US-Pakistan relationship *
Lina Khan Lina M. Khan (born March 3, 1989) is a British-born American legal scholar serving as chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission since 2021. While a student at Yale Law School, she became known for her work in antitrust and competition law in t ...
– legal scholar specializing in US antitrust and competition law, associate professor of law at Columbia Law School, and chair of the
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
* Mahbub ul Haq – game theorist, economist and an international development theorist. Creator of
Human Development Report The Human Development Report (HDR) is an annual Human Development Index report published by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The first HDR was launched in 1990 by the Pakistani economist ...
. *
Sada Cumber Sada Cumber is a Pakistani–American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and diplomat. He is an expert on US foreign policy and national security issues. In 2008, President George W. Bush named him the first U.S. special envoy (title), Envoy to the ...
– first U.S. envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference * Sadaf Jaffer – first female Muslim American mayor, first female
South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...
mayor, and first female Pakistani-American mayor in the United States, of Montgomery in Somerset County, New Jersey. * Saghir TahirNew Hampshire State Representative; the only elected Pakistani American in the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...
; Retrieved December 25, 2006 re-elected in 2006 for a fourth term to represent Ward 2, District 9 in his home town of Manchester * Saqib Ali – served as delegate to the Maryland House of Delegates, elected in 2006, represented the 39th District Retrieved December 10, 2006 *
Shamila N. Chaudhary Shamila N. Chaudhary is an American foreign policy expert and academic who is the Senior South Asia Fellow at New America and senior advisor to Dean Vali Nasr at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She speciali ...
US government policy adviser * Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli – White House appointee at various senior posts in the executive branch and the State department during five Republican administrations *
Zahid Quraishi Zahid Nisar Quraishi (born July 19, 1975) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and a former United States magistrate judge of the same court. He is the first Muslim Article III fed ...
– United States Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. *
Zainab Ahmad Zainab N. Ahmad (born 1980) is an American prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice who specializes in investigating and prosecuting terrorism. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney of the Eastern District of New York u ...
– prosecutor of the United States Department of Justice, former
Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...
for Eastern District of New York. Was a member of the investigation team of the Special Counsel
Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
that investigated possible
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections The Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the goals of harming the campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the candidacy of Donald Trump, and increasing political and social discord in the United States. Acc ...
.


Sports

*
Asif Mujtaba Mohammad Asif Mujtaba (Urdu: آصف مجتبیٰ, born 4 November 1967) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played in 25 Test matches and 66 One Day Internationals from 1986 to 1997. During the, 1994–95 period he briefly ser ...
- Pakistani Cricketer * Ali Khan – American Cricketer *
Farhan Zaidi Farhan Zaidi (born November 11, 1976) is a Canadian-American baseball executive who is currently the President of Baseball Operations for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. Zaidi is one of two Muslim executives in Major League Bas ...
– President of Baseball Operations, San Francisco Giants. *
Gibran Hamdan Gibran Latif Hamdan (born February 8, 1981) is a former professional American football quarterback in the National Football League and NFL Europa. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played col ...
– professional footballer in the
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
. He is the first person of Pakistani descent to play in the NFL. *
Hasan Habib Hasan Habib (born 19 April 1962 in Karachi, Pakistan) is a Pakistani American professional poker player. During his early years in Pakistan, Habib was the Pakistan 14-and-under National Tennis Champion. Habib went to America at the age of 18 to ...
– professional poker player * Mustafa Ali – professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE, first wrestler in WWE of Pakistani Descent. * Nasir Javed – professional cricketer *
Nur B. Ali Nur B. Ali (Urdu: نو ر علی ) (born October 12, 1974 in Karachi, Pakistan) is a Pakistani American race car driver. He is the first Pakistani to become a professional racing driver, and a former two-time Southwest Formula Mazda Series Champ ...
– racecar driver who drives in the ARCA Series for Cunningham Motorsports; the first Pakistani to become a racing driver; former two-time Southwest Formula Mazda Series Champion (2001 and 2002) *
Rashid Zia Rashid Zia (born 6 April 1974) is a Pakistani-born United States cricket team, American cricketer. Rashid Zia first played for the United States in representative cricket in the 2001 ICC Trophy, and later was part of the team that played America's ...
– professional cricketer; represented the United States in the ICC trophy in 2001


Writers

* Asma G. Hasan – award-winning writer; works includes the book ''Red, White, and Muslim'', a biographical view of growing up as an American Muslim * Bapsi Sidhwa – Pakistani novelist and playwright of Parsi- Zoroastrian background who now resides in Texas; her novel ''
Cracking India ''Cracking India'', (1991, U.S., 1992, India; originally published as ''Ice Candy Man'', 1988, England) is a novel by author Bapsi Sidhwa. Summary Setting: Lahore Time: 1943 - 1948 This novel is generally referred to as a story about the Par ...
'' (which described the Partition of British colonial India) was the basis for
Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2005 ...
's film '' Earth'' *
Daniyal Mueenuddin Daniyal Mueenuddin ( ur, ) (born 1963) is a Pakistani-American author who writes in English. His short story collection '' In Other Rooms, Other Wonders'', has been translated into sixteen languages, and won The Story Prize, the Commonwealth Wri ...
– author of the short-story collection ''
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders ''In Other Rooms, Other Wonders'' is a collection of short stories written by Pakistani-American author Daniyal Mueenuddin, who has also worked as a journalist, lawyer and a businessman. His book has won The Story Prize, the Commonwealth Writers ...
'' *
Imad Rahman Imad Rahman is a Pakistani American fiction writer whose first short story collection was published in 2004. Biography A native of Karachi, Pakistan who immigrated to the United States at age 18 to attend college, Rahman was an assistant profess ...
– fiction writer whose first short story collection was published in 2004 *
Maliha Masood Maliha Masood is a Pakistani-American writer. She was born 1971 in Karachi, Pakistan. She moved to the United States in 1982 and grew up in Bellevue, Washington. Masood is a writer in creative nonfiction and the author of two travel memoirs, ''Zaa ...
– award-winning writer in creative non-fiction; author of the travel memoir ''Zaatar Days, Henna Nights'' * Nabeel Qureshi
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
apologetic, author, and speaker. * Noon M. Danish – Pakistani poet of African and
Baloch Baloch, also spelled Baloch, Beluch and in other ways, may refer to: * Baloch people, an ethnic group of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan * Baluch, a small itinerant community of Afghanistan * Balouch, Azad Kashmir, a town in Pakistan * Baloch (s ...
descent *
Nouman Ali Khan Nouman Ali Khan is a Pakistani-American Islamic speaker and Arabic instructor who founded the Bayyinah Institute for Arabic and Qur’anic Studies after serving as an instructor of Arabic at Nassau Community College. He has been named one of ...
– Muslim speaker and author. *
Raees Warsi Raees may refer to: * Raees (1976 film), an Indian Hindi-language drama film * ''Raees'' (2017 film), an Indian Hindi-language action film * ''Raees'' (soundtrack), a soundtrack album from the film * Rais, a title used by the rulers of Arab stat ...
– award-winning poet; writer and founder of Urdu Markaz New York (Urdu Language Center) in 1989 * Rohina Malik – playwright, actress and solo performance artist * Samina Quraeshi – award-winning author, artist and designerSamina Quraeshi
May 22, 2010.
* Sana Amanat – American comic book editor for Marvel Comics; co-created the first solo series to feature a Muslim female super hero, Ms. Marvel, which gained worldwide media attention, sparking excitement and dialogue about identity and the Muslim-American struggle *
Shaila Abdullah Shaila Abdullah (born 1971) is a Pakistani-American author, writer, and designer. Life Shaila Abdullah has received the Patras Bukhari Award for English Language, the Golden Quill Award, the Reader Views Award, the Written Art Award, and a gr ...
– Pakistani women's writer and author *
Yasir Qadhi Yasir Qadhi (born January 30, 1975), is an American preacher, theologian, and imam. Since 2001, he has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an international Islamic educational institution with a center in Houston, Tex ...
– Muslim author and Islamic teacher * Zulfikar Ghose – novelist, poet and essayist


Other

* Aasiya Zubair – network executive * Abdul M. Mujahid – American Muslim religious leader, activist, film producer, non-profit entrepreneur *
Ahmad Adaya Ahmad Adaya ( ur, ) (1927–2006) was an American real estate tycoon and philanthropist who was the founding partner of a California real estate company IDS Real Estate Group. He was known for establishing the New Horizon School for Muslim rel ...
American Muslim real estate tycoon and philanthropist; founding partner of prominent California real estate company, IDS Real Estate Group *
Arsalan Iftikhar Arsalan Iftikhar (born September 1, 1977) is an American human rights lawyer, global media commentator and author of the book ''SCAPEGOATS'': ''How Islamophobia Helps Our Enemies & Threatens Our Freedoms'' which President Jimmy Carter called “a ...
– American international human rights lawyer headquartered in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area; founder of TheMuslimGuy; Contributing Editor for ''Islamica'' magazine *
Faisal Alam Faisal Alam is a gay Pakistani American man who founded the Al-Fatiha Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing the cause of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Muslims. Alam arrived in the United States from Pakistan in 1987, at th ...
– gay Pakistani-American who founded the Al-Fatiha Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing the cause of gay, lesbian and transgender Muslims *
Fatima Ali Fatima Ali (August 8, 1989 – January 25, 2019) was a Pakistani-American executive chef, restaurateur and television personality. She was known for her successful appearances on reality cooking shows ''Chopped'' and ''Top Chef'', and for posthum ...
– chef and restaurateur. * Mohammad S. Hamdani – Muslim Pakistani American medical student who was killed in the
September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
while rescuing victims at the World Trade Center *
Riffat Hassan Riffat Hassan (born 1943) is a Pakistani-American theologian and a leading Islamic feminist scholar of the Qur'an. Early life and career Hassan was born in Lahore, Pakistan, to an upper-class Sayid Muslim family. Hassan's maternal grandfather was ...
– theologian and Islamic feminist scholar of the Qur'an * Sky Metalwala – child missing from the Seattle area. since 2011 * Yasmin A. Khan – American-Pakistani philanthropist


See also

* Pakistani Americans *
Pakistan – United States relations Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
*
List of Americans in Pakistan This is a list of Americans in Pakistan. It includes United States, American immigrants or expatriates who have lived in Pakistan, as well as Pakistani people who are of American descent. The list is sorted alphabetically by the individuals' profes ...
* Pakistani Canadians *
List of Pakistani Canadians This is a list of Pakistani Canadians. Academics * Sajida Alvi – academic of Pakistani origin in Canada; historian of Islam in South Asia * Naz Ikramullah * Rukhsana Khan – children's author and storyteller * Munir Sheikh – 10th Chief Stat ...
* British Pakistanis * List of British Pakistanis * Pakistani Australians * List of Pakistani Australians


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Pakistani Americans Pakistani *
America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
Americans Pakistani Pakistani