Mishal joined the BBC as a producer in 1998 and first appeared on BBC World in 2000 as a business presenter. In September 2000 she became the launch presenter of Asia Business Report, broadcast live every weekday from Singapore. She later returned to London to co-present World Business Report with Patrick O'Connell.

She is a familiar face around the world – seen in over 100 countries. She moved to the main news programmes shortly after September 11th 2001 - fronting the main news bulletins, reporting on location, and interviewing for the arts programme HARDtalk Extra.

In 2002 Mishal became BBC News' first Washington-based anchor, fronting nightly programmes and acquiring a huge fan following. In recent years she has also been appearing on the BBC's UK programming - as a presenter of BBC One's Breakfast and the weekend news.

The daughter of a Pakistani surgeon, Mishal was born in Britain, but grew up in the Middle East, returning at the age of 12 to attend school in UK. She was educated at Cambridge University, where she read law, and went on to complete a Masters in Law at the European University Institute in Florence. "That legal knowledge still comes in handy today - I specialised in human rights which often come up in the news these days." (Her Masters thesis was on Bosnian refugees in Europe). Her first job was at Bloomberg Television in London, working on-camera for the first time, moving in 1998 to BBC World as a producer and a writer.

Born: UK, 1973

Age: 34

Education: First degree in Law from Cambridge University, UK

Masters in Law from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy

Based in: London

Married to: Meekal Hashmi - a lawyer with Old Mutual Asset Managers

Significant events covered: the 2004 US presidential election campaign; and fronting BBC World's India Week programming in October 2005