Alison King

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 drama series Dream Team (1998–2003, 2005–2007), and Carla Connor in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2006–present). She won Best Actress at the 2012 British Soap Awards.^[1]

Alison King was born at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. She is the youngest of three daughters and a son born to nurses Alex and June King. She grew up in Markfield, Leicestershire where 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. At the age of 18, King moved to Newquay, Cornwall, where she worked at Fat Willys Surf Shack. She surfed in her spare time, and spent four years as a dental nurse.^[2] When she was 22, she enrolled at the North Cheshire Theatre School.

King was raised as a Christadelphian.

During her time at theatre school, King landed her first television role playing Helen, a hair salon crimper, in two episodes of Brookside. Before the conclusion of her three-year diploma, she was cast in the major role of Lynda Block in Sky One's, Dream Team.^[3][4] She appeared on the show for three years and left when the character was sent to prison. She reprised the role some years later.^[4] 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 as a prostitute alongside Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson — supporting major roles such as BBC comedy-drama, Help, as well as video film, Submerged (2005) and feature film, Final Contract: Death on Delivery [de], both action films. She said of working on Submerged: "The first one was with Steven Seagal, 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 on Tomb Raider 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".^[2] Her work in Submerged was complimented as an impression of Angelina Jolie.^[5]

King 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 with whom Jeff Murdock becomes infatuated on his morning train ride. She appeared in Holby City as the distressed wife of a hospital patient, and made a brief appearance as a receptionist in the film, Fat Slags. She played prominent roles for two independent films, Save Angel Hope (2006) and Back in Business (2007).^[3] 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 in 2004.

In 2018, King appeared in four episodes of the Sky One programme, Sick Note as Superintendent Henchy which marked her first appearance in a Sky One production since the end of Dream Team.

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.^[3] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] In 2011, King's character was raped by her boyfriend, Frank Foster.^[8] This storyline had a massive public impact and saw a high rise in reported rapes across the United Kingdom.^[9] 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.^[10] 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."^[11] In May 2015, it was announced she would be taking an extended break from Coronation Street to pursue other projects.^[12][13] 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."^[14] 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."^[15] 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."^[16]

In late 2016/early 2017, the actress greeted fans in a virtual reality video during Coronation Street tour.^[17] 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."^[18] 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 for 'Best Female' and has won praise for her portrayal of Carla's psychosis storyline in May 2019.

King was the face of Boddingtons beer in 2004.^[19] She made appearances in a series of recurring television adverts for Daz titled "Cleaner Close", a parody of soap operas.^[3] In the late 1990s, King appeared in various modelling shoots.

King is considered by the press as a British sex symbol.^[20][21][22]

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, resulting in a distressed King fleeing the event earlier than intended.^[23][24][25]

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.^[26]

King had a five-year relationship with former Coronation Street actor Philip Middlemiss (who played Des Barnes).^[27] 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 following the split.^[28] 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.^[29]

In 2016, King had been dating Hollyoaks assistant director Paul Slavin.^[30] 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 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.

• Alison King at IMDb