Alison King (born 3 March 1973) is an English actress. She has had major television roles as Lynda Block in the Sky One television series Dream Team, and as Carla Connor in Coronation Street since 2006.

Early life and education

Alison King was born on 3 March 1973 at Leicester Royal Infirmary to Alex and June King, who were both nurses at that hospital. She was their fifth child and third daughter. She was raised in the family home first in Ratby Lane, Markfield, Leicestershire, then in Kirby Muxloe. She attended South Charnwood High School, where she first took an interest in acting. She continued to act while attending Groby Community College, where a teacher would offer drama and dance classes to students in their free time. Alison was raised as a Christadelphian and attended the Christadelphian Church at Westleigh, Leicester, where she was baptised as a teenager. At the age of 18, King moved to Newquay, Cornwall, where she worked at Fat Willys Surf Shack. When she was 22, she enrolled at the North Cheshire Community Theatre. During her time there she got her first television role, playing Helen, a hair salon crimper, in two episodes of Brookside. Before the conclusion of her 3-year diploma, she was cast in the major role of Lynda Block in Sky One's Dream Team.

Career

Alison King appeared on Dream Team as Lynda Block for three years before 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—appearing in a scene alongside Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson—supporting major roles such as BBC comedy-drama Help, video film Submerged and feature film Final Contract: Death on Delivery. She made a guest appearance in the final episode of Mile High, playing the wife of Captain Nigel Croker's, and was featured in Coupling in the episode "The Man with Two Legs", as Chrissy, an attractive woman with whom Jeff Murdock becomes infatuated on his morning train ride. She played one of the prominent roles for two independent films, Save Angel Hope (2006) and Back in Business (2007). She was also in Final Contract: Death On Delivery

In 2006, she was cast as Carla Connor in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street. 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's character, builder Jason Grimshaw. Alison had also played the character of Millie Webster in the soap at the tender age of 9. . King's pregnancy required her to go on maternity leave in 2009, and Carla has temporarily been written out of the soap. When she returns to filming in late 2009, Carla will be involved with "big plans" according to Coronation Street producer Kim Crowther. In 2010 Alison was involved in big plans when Tony escaped from prison intent on killing her and Roy!

She has also made appearances in a series of recurring television adverts for Daz and was the marketing "face" of Boddingtons beer. In 2000, she appeared in an episode of Cold Feet as "Girlpower", a seductive Internet avatar.

Personal life

She had a five-year relationship with former Coronation Street actor Philip Middlemiss (who played Des Barnes).

In 2006, King got 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 up in early 2007.

She also went out with Simon Gregson who plays the character of Steve McDonald in Coronation Street.

She has been dating Adam Huckett, a Coronation Street sound technician since April 2007. She gave birth to their daughter, Daisy Mae, on 11 February 2009. King has also stated that she wishes to have more children in the future.She has appeared in a number of films including Submerged, with Steven Seagal.

External links

• Alison King at the Internet Movie Database