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A lot of jobs need you to study something or the other before trying your hand at the trade. Doctors need to study medicine, engineers need to study engineering, so it’s natural to assume actors and singers would study something at least adjacent to their work.

While that’s true in some cases, Pakistani celebrities know it isn’t a rule, so many of them have some really interesting backup careers. So, without further ado, here are some Pakistani stars and what they’d be doing if they weren’t in show business.

Ameer Gilani and Mawra Hocane — Lawyers

Ameer Gilani and Mawra Hocane are certainly a power couple as actors, but they’d be just as iconic in court as both have law degrees. Hocane did her LLB from a University of London-affiliated programme in 2018 and her husband has an LLM from Harvard Law School.

Tabish Hashmi — Supply Chain Manager

Before Tabish Hashmi took the stand-up world by storm, he was a supply chain professional and before that, he was an engineer. Really, if we give him a minute, he might just jump into a fourth, unrelated field.

The comedian holds a bachelors in electrical engineering and an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration. Before joining Geo TV as a host, he served as the head of operations for logistics giant TCS.

Aymen Saleem — Financial Analyst

Aymen Saleem does not need a man in finance, largely because she was the woman in finance before she left her job at McKinsey — one of the world’s leading management consultancies — to pursue a career in acting. She announced in 2021 that she was taking a temporary break from acting.

The actor is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and interned at JP Morgan early in her career.

Hasan Raheem — Dentist

Yeah, that’s Dr Hasan Raheem to you. He breaks hearts and fixes teeth. The singer studied dentistry at the Bahria University Medical and Dental College in Karachi.

We don’t know if he ever practiced before deciding to commit to music full-time, but we’re pretty sure we’d trust him with a filling.

Momina Mustehsan — Engineer/Mathematician

You read that right, folks! Singer Momina Mustehsan has a double degree in biomedical engineering and applied mathematics and statistics from Stony Brook University in New York.

In 2018, at the height of her fame, her alma mater invited her back and honoured her as one of their 40 most influential alumni under the age of 40.

Which one surprised you most?