Laila Rouass is best known for her portrayals of Amber Gates in Footballers' Wives and Sahira Shah in Holby City.
25 Facts About Laila Rouass
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Laila Rouass has starred in Primeval and Spooks and been a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, in which she finished fourth.
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Laila Rouass was raised Muslim but is non-practising, although she calls the Islamic faith an important part of her identity.
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Laila Rouass worked as a VJ on Channel V in India in the 1990s.
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Laila Rouass played recurring roles in the British soaps Family Affairs and Hollyoaks, as well as appearing in episodes of I Dream, Casualty and Meet the Magoons.
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Laila Rouass starred alongside Meera Syal in the television adaptation of Syal's novel Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee.
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Laila Rouass left the show when the location of filming was changed to Dublin for series four and five, saying it would be hard to continue participating, for she was a single parent; and her character was killed off-screen between the third and fourth series.
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In spring of 2010, Laila Rouass announced that she would be making a film about Leila Khaled, who led the hijacking of a flight from Rome to Athens in 1969.
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Laila Rouass played Maya Lahan, a regular character introduced in the ninth series of BBC One drama Spooks which broadcast from September 2010.
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Laila Rouass guest starred as the evil Colonel Karim in The Sarah Jane Adventures in October 2010.
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Laila Rouass then joined the cast of the BBC medical drama Holby City, appearing from February 2011 as registrar Sahira Shah.
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Laila Rouass left Holby City on 17 April 2012, after just 14 months on the show, to take a break to spend time with her family.
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Laila Rouass returned to the role of Sahira Shah on 9 February 2021.
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Laila Rouass is currently one of the presenters of "The Channel 4 TV Book Club".
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In July 2024, it was announced that Laila Rouass would be joining the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Ayesha Siddhu, a woman from Suki Panesar's past.
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Laila Rouass participated in the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, a BBC One reality show, paired with professional dancer Anton Du Beke, and alongside Footballers' Wives co-star Zoe Lucker.
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Laila Rouass was unable to participate in the final on 19 December 2009 to reprise her partnership with Anton Du Beke due to a last-minute personal emergency.
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Laila Rouass starred in The Hunt Feast, and in 2006 she was cast in Aditya Raj Kapoor's film Don't Stop Dreaming.
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Laila Rouass appeared in the independent British film Shoot on Sight opposite Brian Cox, Om Puri and Sadie Frost.
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Laila Rouass appeared in the Harlan Coben Netflix original 8 part mini-series Safe where she played Lauren Marshall.
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Laila Rouass then lived with London businessman Nasir Khan, with whom she held a commitment ceremony in 2005 before family and friends.
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Laila Rouass later faced criticism for referring to herself and Khan as a married couple, even though the ceremony had no legal standing.
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Laila Rouass gave birth to their daughter Inez in February 2007, but ended her relationship with Khan shortly afterwards.
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From 2010 to 2011, Laila Rouass dated celebrity chef James Petrie.
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In February 2022, Laila Rouass announced on social media that the couple had ended their relationship, but they subsequently reconciled before separtating again in September 2024.