Alina Khan is a Pakistani actor and dancer who became the first transgender person to have a lead role in a major Pakistani film. She has gained critical acclaim with her work in movies such as Darling, Joyland, and Happy Marriage.
Name
Alina Khan
Nick Name
Alina
Alina Khan as seen in August 2022 (Alina Khan / Instagram)
Born Place
Lahore, Pakistan
Nationality
Occupation
Actor, Dancer
Family
Father – He died when Alina was in 5th standard.
Siblings – She has an older sister and a brother.
Build
Slim
Alina Khan smiling in a picture with Abhishek Bachchan in August 2022 (Alina Khan / Instagram)
Height
5 ft 9 in or 175 cm
Weight
64 kg or 141 lbs
Race / Ethnicity
Asian
Alina Khan is of Pakistani descent.
Hair Color
Dark Brown
Eye Color
Dark Brown
Distinctive Features
Deep-set eyes
Religion
She was raised in a Muslim household.
Alina Khan as seen in an Instagram post in December 2022 (Alina Khan / Instagram)
Alina Khan Facts
Alina uses she/her pronouns.
Growing up, she was bullied by her siblings as well as faced societal discrimination due to being transgender.
Alina Khan performed as a dancer at the Naaz Theatre in Lahore in 2018.
She was cast as Alina in the 2019 short romantic drama film Darling which won the “Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film” at the 76th Venice Film Festival. According to Aiman Rizvi writing for Dawn, “The crux of the story is perhaps best encapsulated in the words of the lead actress, Alina Khan, a trans woman who describes her personal struggle in the industry, “I’ve always wanted to act in movies, since I was a child. But then I’d ask myself, how are they going to cast me? As a man, or a woman?””
Along with Ali Junejo, Rasti Farooq, Sarwat Gilani, and Salmaan Peerzada, Alina Khan co-starred as Biba (a transgender dancer) in the 2022 Urdu and Punjabi-language Pakistani drama film Joyland. On May 23, 2022, the film had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and, thus, became the first Pakistani feature film screened at Cannes. According to The Guardian, the film became “the first major Pakistani motion picture to feature a trans actor in a lead role”. In a review for IndieWire, Siddhant Adlakha writes that in the film, Khan “has an immediately commanding presence — when she walks into a room, she makes it hers” and “as Biba grows closer to Haider, inadvertently threatening what little footing he has left as a man in society’s eyes, a deep vulnerability begins to emerge, which Khan wields with precision.”
Joyland was banned from national distribution by the Pakistan Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in November 2022 and Khan told The Guardian, “I’ve been very sad. There’s nothing against Islam and I don’t understand how Islam can get endangered by mere films.” Later, the ban was reversed on November 16.
