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Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy Biography: Age, Career, Family and More

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated October 14, 2026 • 4 min read

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Quick Info

Date of birth12 November 1978

Age42 Years

BirthplaceKarachi, Pakistan

ProfessionJournalist, Filmmaker, Activist

NationalityPakistani-Canadian

Marital statusMarried

SpouseFahd Kamal Chinoy

FamilyDaughter: Amelia Chinoy; Father: Sheikh Obaid; Mother: Saba Obaid

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy Biography

Pakistani-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and activist Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is a two-time Academy Award winner known for documentaries that spotlight women

Early life and background

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy was born on 12 November 1978 in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in the city where she completed her primary and secondary schooling. She attended Convent of Jesus and Mary and Karachi Grammar School before moving to the United States for higher education. Chinoy earned a bachelor's degree in Economics and Government from Smith College and went on to complete master’s level studies in Communication and International Policy Studies at Stanford University. She holds Pakistani and Canadian citizenship, having acquired Canadian nationality in 2010.

Career

Chinoy began her career in journalism and filmmaking in the early 2000s. Her first documentary work for The New York Times, produced in 2003, focused on Afghan refugee children and marked her shift from written journalism to visual storytelling. She followed that with a film about rising religious radicalism in Pakistan in 2004 and went on to produce and direct a range of documentary projects for television and film over the next two decades.

Her credits as a producer include early projects such as a 2003 TV documentary and later documentaries and films including a 2010 feature on trafficking and work in animation and children's film with the 2015 title 3 Bahadur. As a director, her filmography spans television documentaries and shorts, including internationally known short documentaries and feature-length works. She has also written short-form documentary pieces and contributed story concepts for narrative projects.

Chinoy’s documentaries have repeatedly addressed marginalized communities and difficult social issues. Her films have included work on Afghan refugees, women targeted with acid attacks, Pakistan’s evolving Taliban generation, the lives of transgender people in Pakistan, and other socially significant topics. She has worked with broadcasters such as PBS and contributed reports and online material for series including Frontline/World.

Accolades and recognition

Chinoy is the first Pakistani to win an Academy Award and is among a small number of female directors who have won Oscars for non-fiction work. Her film Saving Face brought widespread attention to survivors of acid attacks and led to international recognition; it earned an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject and additional honors, including an Emmy. She later won a second Academy Award in 2016 for A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness. Her projects have been honored across festivals and institutions with awards such as Emmys, duPont-Columbia recognition, and festival jury and audience prizes.

Beyond film awards, Chinoy has been granted national and international honors: Pakistan awarded her the Hilal-e-Imtiaz in 2012, and she received the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award the following year. She has also been named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Public profile

Chinoy has maintained a public presence as a filmmaker and advocate. She has served as an ambassador for Pakistan’s national blood safety program since 2007 and joined the establishment committee of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan, a non-profit for cultural preservation. She has spoken about the challenges of documentary production in Pakistan, pointing to funding and the limited history of documentary filmmaking there as key obstacles rather than gender-based barriers. Her work has at times generated controversy and threats because of its subject matter, but she has continued to pursue difficult stories and to build connections within communities to enable sensitive reporting and filmmaking.

Latest updates

In 2013 Chinoy, in collaboration with SOC Films, produced a 13-part television series titled Aghaz-e-Safar for Aaj News that tackled a range of social issues. Her more recent directing credits include a 2019 short film and a 2020 mini series documentary focused on gender justice. Across her career she has continued producing, directing and writing films that seek to influence public conversation and policy on human rights and social justice.

Personal life

Chinoy is married and is the daughter of Sheikh Obaid, a businessman, and Saba Obaid, who has been described as a social worker. She has one daughter with her current husband. She practices Islam and is known to follow a non-vegetarian diet. Physically, reference information lists her height as approximately 165 cm (5 ft 5 in), with black eyes and hair.

Editorial Review and Sources

This F4U profile is written from publicly available career and profile information, then reviewed for clarity before publication. If you spot an outdated detail about Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, send the page URL and a reliable correction source to f4udotin@gmail.com.

Reference context: StarsUnfolded

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Recent Work

Sitara: Let Girls Dream

Short film directed by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy

2019
Fundamental.: Gender Justice. No Exceptions

TV mini series documentary directed by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy

2020
3 Bahadur

Film for which Chinoy is credited as producer, director and story concept

2015
Saving Face

Short documentary directed by Chinoy that examines survivors of acid attacks

2012
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Career Highlights

  1. Two Academy Awards for documentary short subjects
  2. Multiple Emmy Awards and international documentary festival honors
  3. Hilal-e-Imtiaz awarded by the Government of Pakistan in 2012
  4. Named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2012
  5. Ambassador for Pakistan’s national blood safety program since 2007
Reviewed by F4U Editorial Desk

F4U profile pages are prepared from public career information, checked for readability, and updated when reliable correction sources are shared with the editorial team.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When was Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy born?

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy was born on 12 November 1978.

What is Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy known for?

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is known for journalist, Filmmaker, Activist.

What is Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’s marital status?

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy's marital status is listed as Married.

Who is Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy married to?

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is publicly listed as married to Fahd Kamal Chinoy.