Samina Peerzada

Samina Peerzada (Urdu: ثمینہ پیرزادہ) was born to Moinuddin Butt and Almas Butt in Lahore. Her father is a mechanical engineer. She did her graduation in Commerce. During her academic years she took an active part in extracurricular activities. When she showed an inclination toward acting, both her parents supported her in adopting it as a profession.

In 1975 she married Usman Peerzada, who was also an actor encouraged her career. In 1976 she starred his film Nazdikiyan. This was followed by many films, including "Bazaare Husn" and "Khawahish". She has a long list of TV plays to her credit, among them the popular "Raat" and "Hisar". She has also performed on stage for such successful productions as "Raaz-o-Niaz" and "Gurya Ghar".

She has travelled widely, performed in Oslo in an Ibsen festival, and won many awards, including two presidential awards for her films and two Graduate Awards for her work on stage. She has two daughters anum and amal peerzada.

Now, she has become one of the more promising directors hailing from Pakistan's film industry based in Lahore. She initially directed a string of successful television productions, such as Sophia and Karb for Pakistan Tele-PTV, but later chose to move to the celluluoid world with her rather controversial directorial debut Inteha, a film in which she also had a short role. Inteha was well received in the major urban centers of Pakistan, and paved way for Peerzada to direct Shararat, a film which lacked the slick urban look which people related Peerzada's films with. She has in recent years put cinema on the backburner and has instead chosen to act in a number of television serials for the plethora of new Pakistani cable / satellite channels. However, Peerzada returns to cinema with Saqib Malik's directorial debut Ajnabee Shehr Mein where she stars alongside Shaan and Ali Zafar. The film is expected to release sometimes this year.

Currently Samina Peerzada has returned to acting in Pakistani television plays such as "Sheeshay Ka Mahal", "Kaanch", and "Ghar Gharonda".

Flilmography (as a director):

* Inteha (1999)
* Shararat (2003)