Aqib Khan was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England and is of Pakistani descent. He has a younger sister, Aroosh Khan (born 20 September 2008), and two other sisters. Khan was born to Pakistani and Pushto speaking parents and his ancestors were from Attock, Pakistan. He has stated he is from the Alizai tribe. Khan is multilingual, and can speak English, Urdu, Hindi , Punjabi , Hindko and Pashto. Aqib is a keen supporter of Manchester United and was educated at Nab Wood School (now Samuel Lister Academy) in Bradford until 2010.

Khan had his screen debut in the 2010 film West Is West, the sequel to the 1999 film East Is East. He was fifteen years old when he auditioned. and was sixteen years old and sixth form Khan had done only one school play when younger and had no other acting experience when cast. He was considered "something of a find" for the film due to his resemblance to actor Jordan Routledge who played the role of Sajid in the original film. Of his performance, Belfast Telegraph wrote that Khan "has revealed he already had a strong connection to the character of Sajid Khan before he was cast in the sequel to hit comedy East Is East," RTÉ wrote "Newcomer Aqib Khan is superb as the cheeky, angst-ridden teen, and his change of heart plays out convincingly", The Scotsman wrote "as Sajid, young Aqib Khan has enough natural charm and confidence to make him an endearing scene-stealer." and National Post wote "newbie Aqib Khan fits perfectly."