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Alison Rosamund King (born 3 March 1973) is an English actress and model. She is known for her roles as Lynda Block in the
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
drama series ''
Dream Team
Dream Team may refer to:
Sport
Basketball
* Dream Team, the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team in Barcelona
* Dream Team II, the 1994 U.S. men's national basketball team at the FIBA World Championship
* Dream Team III, the 1996 ...
'' (1998–2003, 2005–2007), and
Carla Connor
Carla Barlow (also Connor and Gordon) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', played by Alison King. She made her first appearance on screen during the episode airing on 1 December 2006 and introduced ...
in the long-running
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
'' (2006–present). She won Best Actress at the
2012 British Soap Awards.
Early life
Alison King was born at the
Leicester Royal Infirmary
The Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) is a National Health Service hospital in Leicester, England. It is located to the south-west of the city centre. It has an accident and emergency department and is managed by of the University Hospitals of ...
. She is the youngest of three daughters and a son born to nurses Alex and June King. She grew up in
Markfield
Markfield is a large village in both the National Forest and Charnwood Forest and in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. The settlement dates back to at least the time of the Norman conquest and is mentioned in th ...
,
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
where she attended
South Charnwood High School
South Charnwood High School is a mixed secondary school located between the villages of Markfield and Thornton in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire. The school was established in 1935 thus various additions to the school h ...
, where she first took an interest in acting. She continued to act while attending
Groby Community College
Brookvale Groby Learning Campus is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Groby in the English county of Leicestershire.
The school was created in September 2012 from Groby Community College and Brookvale High School. Previ ...
, where a teacher would offer drama and dance classes to students in their free time. At the age of 18, King moved to
Newquay
Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...
, Cornwall, where she worked at Fat Willys Surf Shack. She surfed in her spare time, and spent four years as a dental nurse.
When she was 22, she enrolled at the North Cheshire Theatre School.
King was raised as a
Christadelphian
The Christadelphians () or Christadelphianism are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in the ...
.
Career
During her time at theatre school, King landed she got her first television role playing Helen, a hair salon crimper, in two episodes of ''
Brookside Brookside may refer to:
Geography Canada
* Brookside, Edmonton
* Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador
* Brookside, Nova Scotia
United Kingdom
* Brookside, Berkshire, England
* Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England
United States
* Br ...
''. Before the conclusion of her three-year diploma, she was cast in the major role of Lynda Block in Sky One's, ''
Dream Team
Dream Team may refer to:
Sport
Basketball
* Dream Team, the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team in Barcelona
* Dream Team II, the 1994 U.S. men's national basketball team at the FIBA World Championship
* Dream Team III, the 1996 ...
''.
[Staff (15 February 2007).]
You can't imagine how nerve-wracking it was – filming in the Rovers
, ''Leicester Mercury'' (archived at AccessMyLibrary). Retrieved 20 December 2008.[Alison King CV]
", Creative Artist Management. Retrieved 20 December 2008. She appeared on the show for three years and left when the character was sent to prison. She reprised the role some years later.
During her break from working on ''Dream Team'', she worked on several projects abroad including a role as an extra in the American feature film, ''
Shanghai Knights
''Shanghai Knights'' is a 2003 American martial arts action comedy film. It is the sequel to ''Shanghai Noon'', and the second installment of the ''Shanghai'' film series. Directed by David Dobkin and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, i ...
'' — appearing in a scene as a prostitute alongside
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
and
Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and '' The Royal ...
— supporting major roles such as
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
comedy-drama, ''
Help
Help is a word meaning to give aid or signal distress.
Help may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Help'' (2010 film), a Bollywood horror film
* ''Help'' (2021 theatrical film), a British psychological thriller film
* '' ...
'', as well as video film, ''
Submerged'' (2005) and feature film, ', both action films. She said of working on ''Submerged'': "The first one was with
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal (; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, screenwriter and martial artist. A 7th-dan black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan and eventually ended up running his father-in-l ...
, which was filmed in Bulgaria. He's a member of the American military and I'm Dimita – the best field op in the business. I'm an action girl with a high pony-tail doing lots of stunts. The stunt guy had worked with
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...
on ''
Tomb Raider
''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...
'' and he showed me how to hang upside down from things, how to jump down into dams and how to strangle people with my knees. It was great fun." She said of ''Final Contract'': "In that one I was armed with a crossbow and chasing round in speedboats and fighting".
Her work in ''Submerged'' was complimented as an impression of Angelina Jolie.
King made a guest appearance in the final episode of ''
Mile High
''Mile High'' is a British television drama based on the lives of the cabin crew members of Fresh!, a budget airline based in London. The name of the show is a reference to the Mile High Club. The show was broadcast on Sky1 from 2003 to 2005 ...
'', playing the wife of Captain Nigel Croker's, and was featured in ''
Coupling
A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. The primary purpose of couplings is to join two pieces of rotating equipment while permitting some degree of misalignment or end mov ...
'' in the episode "The Man with Two Legs", as Chrissy with whom
Jeff Murdock
''Coupling'' is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC Two from 12 May 2000 to 14 June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating, sexual adventures, and mishaps of six friends ...
becomes infatuated on his morning train ride. She appeared in ''
Holby City
''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', and pr ...
'' as the distressed wife of a hospital patient, and made a brief appearance as a receptionist in the film, ''
Fat Slags
''The Fat Slags'' is a British comic strip appearing in the alternative British comic '' Viz''. The characters made their debut in 1989, their first appearance being in issue 36. The eponymous slags are Sandra Burke and Tracey Tunstall, known ...
''. She played prominent roles for two independent films, ''Save Angel Hope'' (2006) and ''Back in Business'' (2007).
In 2000, she appeared in an episode of ''
Cold Feet'' as "Girlpower", a seductive internet avatar. King also appeared in the second episode of the fourth series of ''
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'' () is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven British construction workers who leave the United Kingdom to search for employment overseas. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in ...
'' in 2004.
In 2018, King appeared in four episodes of the
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
programme, ''
Sick Note
''Sick Note'' is a British black comedy television series starring Rupert Grint and Nick Frost. It was created and written by Nat Saunders and James Serafinowicz and directed by Matt Lipsey. It first aired on 7 November 2017 on Sky One. In April ...
'' as Superintendent Henchy which marked her first appearance in a
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
production since the end of ''Dream Team''.
''Coronation Street''
In 2006, she was cast as
Carla Connor
Carla Barlow (also Connor and Gordon) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', played by Alison King. She made her first appearance on screen during the episode airing on 1 December 2006 and introduced ...
in the ITV soap opera, ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
''. She made her first appearance in the role in the episode broadcast on 1 December 2006.
She had previously appeared in the soap in 2004 as an unrelated character named
Mrs. Fanshaw. Her one-episode role was part of a larger storyline to "sex up"
Ryan Thomas
Ryan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
*Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
Places Australia
* Division of Ryan, an electo ...
's character, builder
Jason Grimshaw
Jason Grimshaw is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Portrayed by Ryan Thomas, the character first appeared on screen on 25 December 2000. It was announced in October 2015 that Thomas had quit the role ...
. She went on maternity leave in 2009. King's role in the soap involved high-profile storylines. In 2010, she was involved in the
death of Tony Gordon storyline, in which she had to be kidnapped in the Underworld factory.
[Alison King (Carla Connor, Corrie) – Coronation Street Interview – Soaps](_blank)
Digital Spy (25 May 2010). In 2011, King's character was
raped
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or agai ...
by her boyfriend,
Frank Foster.
This storyline had a massive public impact and saw a high rise in reported rapes across the United Kingdom. King spoke of how there was an 800% increase in calls to support organisations after the storyline had aired, and that people had contacted her about their real-life experiences, some of whom she has kept in communication with. Her performance in the rape storyline led to a Best Actress award at the
2012 British Soap Awards.
In July 2013, King spoke of her future on ''Coronation Street'', saying "I don't know whether I'll be here forever - I'd love to have a go at different things, like an action drama or love story. But as long as I'm happy in the role and the producers will have me, I'll be staying put for now." In May 2015, it was announced she would be taking an extended break from ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
'' to pursue other projects. However, in January 2016, it was confirmed that the departure would be permanent. She spoke to ''
RadioTimes'' of her reason to leave: "I've probably only ever done about 20 pick-ups or drop-offs in all the time my daughter's been at school, which is quite sad. And creatively, I miss being other people. It's what I went to drama school for. I love playing diverse characters and meeting new people. And, truthfully, I also want to be able to get my voiceover career going again. There's all sorts of things that I used to do, which I can't do while I'm on ''Coronation Street''. So, those are the reasons, really." Her departure aired on 26 May 2016. Of her leaving she said: "These are my best friends and I love them very much. I'll miss them all and being with them, you know, the cast and crew and production, they're my family." She later confessed that she blames ''Coronation Street'' for "destroying her feet and shattering her vocal cords", regretting that she agreed to portray Carla Connor for 10 years with a gravelly voice and high heels. She said "''Coronation Street'' ruined my body."
In late 2016/early 2017, the actress greeted fans in a virtual reality video during ''Coronation Street'' tour. She spoke of filming the video for the tour: "It is surreal because is the original set and I know how many scenes I've filmed in there. But as an actress, no matter how long you have off, being back on set you still feel like you've never left. This is obviously a bit different because I'm being Ali and not Carla. I keep looking round for them to shout action. It has been my home for 10 years so I am quite at home being on set." In August 2017, it was announced that King would reprise her role as Carla in December that year. Her return aired on 22 December 2017. Since her return, King has been nominated for a
British Soap Award
The British Soap Awards (BSAs) are an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom which honours the best moments in British soap operas. The ceremony is televised on ITV and has been presented by Phillip Schofield since 2006. The trophies give ...
for 'Best Female' and has won praise for her portrayal of Carla's
psychosis
Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...
storyline in May 2019.
Other ventures
King was the face of
Boddingtons beer in 2004. She made appearances in a series of recurring television adverts for
Daz titled "Cleaner Close", a parody of
soap operas
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
.
In the late 1990s, King appeared in various modelling shoots.
King is considered by the press as a British
sex symbol
A sex symbol or icon is a person or character widely considered sexually attractive.Pam Cook, "The trouble with sex: Diana Dors and the Blonde bombshell phenomenon", In: Bruce Babinigton (ed.), ''British Stars and Stardom: From Alma Taylor to ...
.
Personal life
In 2014, it was reported that the actress had requested extra security from ITV bosses after it emerged she had a female stalker. Despite formal requests to stay away after being found lurking outside of her house, the woman approached her at a public event,
Southport Flower Show
Southport Flower Show, held at Victoria Park in Southport, is the largest independent flower show in the United Kingdom. It was originally started in 1924 by the local council, but since 1986 has been operated by Southport Flower Show company, whi ...
, resulting in a distressed King fleeing the event earlier than intended.
King has had cosmetic surgery to improve her smile, stating her teeth had been ruined by sucking her thumb as a child, and later had more surgery in 2015.
King had a five-year relationship with former ''Coronation Street'' actor
Philip Middlemiss
Philip Middlemiss (born Philip Sean Lloyd; 19 June 1963) is an English television, radio actor and businessman, best known for playing bookmaker Des Barnes in ITV's '' Coronation Street'' between 1990 and 1998. The character was killed off, or ...
(who played
Des Barnes
Des Barnes is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', played by Philip Middlemiss.
Storylines
Des was deeply in love with Steph (Amelia Bullmore), but she did not seem to care as deeply for him, and event ...
). In 2006, she became engaged to fellow actor Jim Alexander who co-starred in several series of ''Dream Team'' with her, as well as the Daz adverts. However, the pair split in early 2007. She briefly dated fellow soap actor
Louis Emerick
Louis Emerick Grant (born 10 June 1960) is a British television actor.
Biography
He was born in the Toxteth area of Liverpool to a Liberian father and British mother. He is the youngest of ten children. He is best known for his portrayal of Mic ...
following the split. The actress dated Adam Huckett, a ''Coronation Street'' sound technician from April 2007. She gave birth to their daughter on 11 February 2009. King became engaged to Huckett in September 2011 while on a trip to Paris, however, on 16 October 2012 it was reported that the engagement was off as they had split up.
In 2016, King had been dating ''
Hollyoaks
''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...
'' assistant director Paul Slavin.
She said of the relationship: "I'm seeing somebody. It's very early days so I don't want to say anything more, but I'm happy." However, in November 2018, she was pictured with a new 'mystery' man and in August 2019, it was reported that they were engaged. In an
OK Magazine
''OK!'' is a British weekly magazine that primarily specialises in royal and celebrity news. Originally launched as a monthly magazine, its first issue was published in April 1997. In September 2004, ''OK''! launched in Australia as a monthly ...
cover and interview in September 2019, King posed for photos with her new fiancé, IT consultant David Stuckley and announced their engagement. In May 2022, the couple split and called off their engagement.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Alison
1973 births
Living people
English soap opera actresses
English television actresses
English film actresses
People from Leicester
People from Kirby Muxloe
Actresses from Leicestershire
British people of Ukrainian descent
20th-century English actresses
21st-century English actresses