Two-time Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is known for her documentaries Saving Face and A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness. Girl in the River earned her a monumental visit with the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2016, ultimately impacting legislation and helping to push through the long-stalled honor killing bill, the controversial law subject of her short.
Most recently, Obaid-Chinoy co-directed the Hulu documentary Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge. Through archival footage and intimate interviews, the documentary takes a deep dive into the life and career of von Furstenberg, who forged a path for herself in a male-dominated industry and built a multimillion-dollar fashion empire.
In 2022, Obaid-Chinoy made her narrative directorial debut for Marvel’s critically acclaimed series Ms. Marvel. She directed two of the series’ pivotal episodes (4 and 5). The New York Times included her episodes in its annual Best Episodes of TV list, calling them ingenious and surprisingly moving. In April 2023, Lucas Films announced Obaid-Chinoy as the director of the next Star Wars film starring Daisy Ridley at its Star Wars Celebration convention in London.
Obaid-Chinoy has received four Emmy Awards, a Knight International Journalism Award, two Alfred I. duPont awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and the Tällberg/Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. She was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people worldwide. In 2013, the Canadian government awarded her a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work in the field of documentary films, and the World Economic Forum honored her with a Crystal Award at their annual summit in Davos.