# Shakira Caine
**Shakira Caine** (born Shakira Baksh; Guyana, 1947) is a Guyanese-born British former model and actress who won Miss Guyana 1967 and finished third at the [Miss World](https://www.edgepedia.org/miss-world) 1967 pageant in London, and who later worked in British film and television before marrying the actor [Michael Caine](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-caine) in 1973.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) She is [Indo-Guyanese](https://www.edgepedia.org/indo-guyanese) by background.[2](https://www.thejuggernaut.com/shakira-baksh-indo-guyanese-model-miss-world-shakira-caine-michael-caine)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Shakira Baksh, Guyana, 1947, to a Guyanese Muslim family, daughter of a dressmaker[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) |
| Pageant career | Miss Guyana 1967; third place at Miss World 1967 at the Lyceum Theatre, London, on November 16, 1967[3](https://www.stabroeknews.com/2011/10/08/the-scene/beauty-pageants-%E2%80%93-a-look-back/) |
| Screen credits | Uncredited role as Scrubba in *Carry On Again Doctor* (1969); bit parts in *On Her Majesty's Secret Service* (1969), *Toomorrow* (1970), the series *UFO* (1970–71), *Son of Dracula* (1973), and *Some Girls Do*[4](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2022/great-actors/caine-michael/) • [5](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/shakira-caine/credits/3030412502/) |
| How the Caines met | Michael Caine saw her in a Maxwell House coffee commercial in 1971 and a friend gave him her telephone number[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) |
| Marriage | Married Michael Caine on January 8, 1973, in Las Vegas at the "Little Chapel on the Green"; daughter Natasha born 1973[6](https://www.michaelcaine.com/biography) • [1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) |
| Later work | Designs clothing and jewelry sold in major department stores in the UK and USA; paintings auctioned for charity[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) |
## Miss Guyana and Miss World 1967
Baksh was working as a secretary and typist in Guyana when her boss urged her to enter the 1967 Miss Guyana contest, sponsored by the Jaycees of Guyana, which she won.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) For the Guyana finals she wore a gold-sequined gown made by her mother, with a cold-shoulder design and a train draped from the opposite shoulder; the audience included the Governor-General Sir David Rose and members of the diplomatic corps.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) The year before, she had been chosen Miss Deepavali 1966 out of ten contestants.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/)
The consulate bombing had happened only a year earlier. Terrorists attacked the American consulate in Guyana, where Baksh worked as a secretary and typist, and she was one of the employees seriously injured; she was left with a burst eardrum and a scar extending from her cheek to her ear.[2](https://www.thejuggernaut.com/shakira-baksh-indo-guyanese-model-miss-world-shakira-caine-michael-caine) "My main concern was just to get out," she told *People* in 1976.[2](https://www.thejuggernaut.com/shakira-baksh-indo-guyanese-model-miss-world-shakira-caine-michael-caine)
At the Miss World contest at the Lyceum Theatre in London on November 16, 1967, Baksh placed third.[3](https://www.stabroeknews.com/2011/10/08/the-scene/beauty-pageants-%E2%80%93-a-look-back/) She was 19 years old, stood 5 feet 2 inches, and was one of a small number of non-white contestants among the 54.[2](https://www.thejuggernaut.com/shakira-baksh-indo-guyanese-model-miss-world-shakira-caine-michael-caine) The Guyana Chronicle notes that 1967 was the only year in any grand slam pageant in which three South American countries made up the final three: Baksh, Madeleine Hartog Bell of Peru (Miss World 1967), and Maria del Carmen Sabaliuskas of Argentina.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) Contemporary Guyanese coverage treated the result as a national first: she was described as the first girl to put Guyana on the map at an international beauty pageant, and said her success would "do a lot for tourism in Guyana".[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/)
## Model and actress in England
After the pageant, Baksh made a permanent move to England to work as a model and actress.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) Her acting debut was in *Carry On Again Doctor* (1969), the Gerald Thomas comedy starring [Kenneth Williams](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenneth-williams), Sid James, and Charles Hawtrey, in which she had an unaccredited role as Scrubba.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) She then appeared in small parts in Peter Hunt's *On Her Majesty's Secret Service* (1969), the UK/American comedy-musical film *Toomorrow* (1970), and Gerald Thomas's *Carry On Again Doctor*, followed from 1970 to 1973 by an recurring role as a SHADO operative on the science-fiction television series *UFO*, starring Ed Bishop.[4](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2022/great-actors/caine-michael/) • [1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) Her filmography also includes *Some Girls Do* and Freddie Francis's horror comedy *Son of Dracula* (1973).[5](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/shakira-caine/credits/3030412502/)
## Meeting Michael Caine and marriage
Michael Caine first saw Baksh on television in a [Maxwell House](https://www.edgepedia.org/maxwell-house) coffee commercial in 1971.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) Vanity Fair, drawing on his memoirs, records that he described her as an Indian woman named Shakira Baksh who lived in London.[7](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/michael-caine-memoirs) A friend gave him her telephone number; after an initial hesitation on her part, she agreed to dinner and cooked a meal for him at his flat, and the two remained together from then on.[6](https://www.michaelcaine.com/biography) Caine later told Radio Times that he "fell in love with her in about eight minutes".[8](https://villagevoicenews.com/2022/01/01/from-the-essequibo-coast-to-intl-beauty-stage-and-lady-caine/)
The couple married on January 8, 1973, in a quiet ceremony at the Little Chapel on the Green in Las Vegas, choosing it because they did not want a big fuss.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) • [6](https://www.michaelcaine.com/biography) Their daughter Natasha was born in July of that year, weighing 6 lb 12 oz.[6](https://www.michaelcaine.com/biography) The marriage has lasted more than 45 years, with homes in London and Leatherhead, Surrey.[9](https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-michael-caine/) Caine, interviewed in the Guardian, said "My wife, Shakira, and I are equal partners," and in a separate interview described their mixed-faith household: "My wife is a Muslim and she does Muslim stuff; I'm a Christian and I do Christian stuff, and no questions ever come up."[10](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/03/my-family-values-michael-caine) • [11](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/13/interview-michael-caine)
## Later film and design work
Her final screen appearance came in [John Huston](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-huston)'s *The Man Who Would Be King* (1975), opposite her husband, playing Roxanne. Huston pressed her into service at the last minute, judging that her innately regal bearing suited the role of an Indian princess.[4](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2022/great-actors/caine-michael/) The film was one Michael Caine considered among the finest he had appeared in.[6](https://www.michaelcaine.com/biography)
Fashion remained her main creative interest. Drawing on her mother's career as a dressmaker, Baksh had originally aimed to become a fashion designer, and she went on to design clothing and jewelry sold in major department stores throughout the UK and USA.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/) Her work has expanded to include painting, with pieces auctioned for charity.[1](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/)
Her career's footprint extends to naming: the Guyanese-American Broadway performer and songwriter Shakira Marshall, known as Kira Divine, was named after the beauty queen who married Michael Caine.[12](https://guyanachronicle.com/2025/05/04/rooted-in-rhythm/) Writers covering her life have noted that, despite pageant, screen, and design careers of her own, headlines and profiles have long tended to present her mainly as "Michael Caine's wife"; a 2023 profile in The Juggernaut described that framing as a label that has defined her in public life despite her multihyphenate record.[2](https://www.thejuggernaut.com/shakira-baksh-indo-guyanese-model-miss-world-shakira-caine-michael-caine)
## References
1. [Shakira Baksh (Caine) did Guyana proud, Guyana Chronicle (April 19, 2014)](https://guyanachronicle.com/2014/04/19/shakira-baksh-caine-did-guyana-proud/)
2. [Shakira Baksh is Much More Than "Michael Caine's Wife", The Juggernaut (March 2, 2023)](https://www.thejuggernaut.com/shakira-baksh-indo-guyanese-model-miss-world-shakira-caine-michael-caine)
3. [Beauty pageants – a look back, Stabroek News (October 8, 2011)](https://www.stabroeknews.com/2011/10/08/the-scene/beauty-pageants-%E2%80%93-a-look-back/)
4. [Caine, Michael, Senses of Cinema (2022)](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2022/great-actors/caine-michael/)
5. [Shakira Caine List of Movies and TV Shows, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/shakira-caine/credits/3030412502/)
6. [Biography, The Official Website of Sir Michael Caine](https://www.michaelcaine.com/biography)
7. [The Bon Vivant: Michael Caine's Pursuit of the Good Life, Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/michael-caine-memoirs)
8. [From the Essequibo Coast, to int'l beauty stage and Lady Caine, Village Voice News (January 1, 2022)](https://villagevoicenews.com/2022/01/01/from-the-essequibo-coast-to-intl-beauty-stage-and-lady-caine/)
9. [Sir Michael Caine, Academy of Achievement](https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-michael-caine/)
10. [Michael Caine: My family values, The Guardian (April 3, 2010)](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/03/my-family-values-michael-caine)
11. [This much I know: Michael Caine, The Guardian (September 13, 2009)](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/13/interview-michael-caine)
12. [Rooted in Rhythm, Guyana Chronicle (May 4, 2025)](https://guyanachronicle.com/2025/05/04/rooted-in-rhythm/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of South Asia*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license