Ali Saleem (1979 - ) performer.

Born in Islamabad, Ali is the son of a now-retired colonel in the Pakistani army, and a government official.

Saleem describes himself as ‘a woman in a man’s body’, who fantasized about growing up to be a woman since he was a child.

He built a reputation impersonating former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Diane Spencer, Princess of Wales and actress/singer Noor Jehan. Bhutto herself asked Ali to do his impersonation of her and burst out laughing.

He has now become famous as Begum Nawazish Ali, a flirtatious widow on The Late Night Show on Aaj TV, where she poses taboo questions, that journalists regularly avoid, to imans, celebrities and politicians. Pakistan’s military government has threatened to ban the program.

Saleem is openly bisexual.

The show was finally banned in July 2007.

• Isambard Wilkinson. “How Pakistan's 'Dame Edna' has upset Musharraf”. Daily Telegraph. 22/04/2006. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/22/wpak22.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/22/ixworld.html. No Longer Available
• Ali Saleem interviewed by Sohema Rehan “I get to have the best of both worlds”. Newsline. January 2006. www.newsline.com.pk/NewsJan2006/startrekjan.htm.
• “Begum Nawazish Ali”. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begum_Nawazish_Ali.

There is a very good video clip here on Ali and Nawazish. Usually I filter out clips that show us putting on makeup etc, but I make an exception for this one.