Inside Coronation Street star Alison King's life - co-star romance, real-life split and career before soap

Alison King has played Carla Connor in Coronation Street for almost two decades

Alison King, known for her role as Carla Connor in Coronation Street, has become a soap legend over the past 18 years. Joining the cast in 2006, Alison has been involved in numerous major storylines, including being targeted by serial killer Stephen Reid, kidnapped, raped by her boyfriend Frank Foster, struggling with alcoholism, having an affair, and even being suspected of murder.

Currently, her character is embroiled in a new romantic plotline, growing closer to DS Lisa Swain (played by Vicky Myers). .

Off-screen, Alison's life is far less dramatic than her character's. The Leicester-born actress relocated to Newquay at 18 to work in a surf shack.

A keen surfer herself, she then spent four years working as a dental nurse before joining the North Cheshire Theatre School at 22. In the late 1990s, Alison worked as a model, becoming the face of Boddington beer and featuring in Daz adverts.

Alison's first significant acting role was in the soap Brookside, which made a comeback in 2023 after a 20-year break. She featured in two episodes of the Channel 4 soap as a hair salon crimper, reports the Mirror.

Her next notable role, aside from Corrie, was as Lynda Block in Sky One's Dream Team. During this time, she dated her co-star Jim Alexander and they got engaged, but the relationship ended shortly after.

In 2004, she made a guest appearance in Corrie as Mrs Fanshaw, a character introduced to spice up Ryan Thomas' character Jason Grimshaw. After impressing the soap's producers, Alison was cast as Carla Connor and debuted on the cobbles in 2006.

Outside of Coronation Street, Alison was previously engaged to Adam Huckett, a sound technician on the show, with whom she has a teenage daughter, Daisy. The pair never married and separated in 2012.

Alison then had a five-year relationship with Corrie co-star Philip Middlemiss, who played Des Barnes. In November 2018, Alison was seen with a new 'mystery man', later revealed to be IT consultant David Stuckley when they announced their engagement in OK! magazine a year later.

However, in May 2022, it was reported that the couple had split after 'growing apart' during lockdown. The actress has opened up about undergoing cosmetic dental work to enhance her smile, a decision influenced by childhood habits. She explained that thumb-sucking as a child left her feeling insecure about her teeth's appearance.

During her drama school years, she opted for corrective surgery, but later, in 2015, she confessed to having additional procedures. Speaking to dentistry.co.uk, she said: "As an actress onscreen I'd begun to notice how my top and bottom front teeth had been pushed into the middle where my thumb had been.

"The inside bottom four teeth around the gum line were much shorter than the rest of the teeth. It was during my time at drama school that I decided to undergo cosmetic surgery at a dental practice in London. However, I wasn't completely satisfied with the final result and always felt there was room for improvement."