Alison Rosamund King (born 3 March 1973) is an English actress. She has had major television roles as Lynda Block in the Sky One drama series Dream Team, and as Carla Connor in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2006–16). She won Best Actress at the 2012 British Soap Awards.

Early life and education

Alison King was born at Leicester Royal Infirmary to Alex and June King, who were both nurses at the hospital. She was their fourth child and third daughter. She was raised in the family home first in Ratby Lane, Markfield, Leicestershire where she went to Markfield Mercenfeld Primary School and was taught by Tracey Lee, mother of Sammy Lee, and Gillian Sykes, 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 Theatre School. 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 three-year diploma, she was cast in the major role of Lynda Block in Sky One's Dream Team.