Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
until age 14, when his family moved to
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
. He is of Pakistani descent and was raised in a Muslim family. He has two brothers. His father worked at a gas station and eventually became the owner of three convenience stores. Shaikh worked part-time at his father's convenience store when he was a teenager. He graduated from Marshall High School in 2005 and received his bachelor's degree in business from
University of Texas at San Antonio
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA or UT San Antonio) is a Public university, public research university in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Established in 1969,
Shaikh began to pivot to acting while in college after he secured an internship at a talent management company. Against his parents' wishes, he moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
to pursue acting full-time after graduation. Shaikh struggled to find acting roles due to limited opportunities for
South Asian
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
actors. In 2015 he began to take post-production jobs to stay employed in the entertainment industry even though his primary interest was acting. He worked in post-production roles for five years. He also took classes and performed at
UCB Theatre
The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Adam ...
for several years. Shaikh is a founding member of The Get Brown, a South Asian comedy troupe that formed at UCB in 2018.
He gained prominence in the role of Aamir Khan on the
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
series '' Ms. Marvel''. He also appeared in the film ''
The Marvels
''The Marvels'' is a 2023 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to the film '' Captain Marvel'' (2019), a continuation of the telev ...
''. Shaikh also co-hosted the comedy podcast ''The Bollywood Boys'' with Shaan Baig, where they revisit classic and some contemporary
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
films. He is a lead role in the 2025
Hulu
Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...