Laila Rouass

Laila Rouass
Born	Laila Abdesselam (1971-06-22) 22 June 1971 (age 53) Stepney, London, England
Years active	1999–present
Television	Family Affairs Footballers' Wives Primeval Strictly Come Dancing Spooks Holby City The Sarah Jane Adventures Loose Women EastEnders
Spouse	Abselam Rouass ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 2003)​
Partner(s)	Nasir Khan (2005–2008) James Petrie (2010–2011) Ronnie O'Sullivan (2012–present)
Children	1

Laila Rouass (née Abdesselam; born 22 June 1971) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Amber Gates in Footballers' Wives (2004–2006) and Sahira Shah in Holby City (2011–2012, 2021). She has also starred in Primeval and Spooks and been a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, in which she finished fourth.

Early life

Laila Abdesselam was born on 22 June 1971 to an Indian mother and a Moroccan father, she grew up with six siblings in Tower Hamlets in the East End of London.^[1][2][3] She was raised Muslim but is now non-practising, although she calls the Islamic faith an important part of her identity.^[1]

Career

Rouass worked as a VJ on Channel V in India in the 1990s.^[4] While on Channel V, she appeared in a music video for the band Colour Blind, directed by the then creative head of the channel, Shamin Desai.^[5]

After moving back to the UK, Rouass became famous for playing the role of Bollywood actress Amber Gates in the cult ITV1 series Footballers' Wives between 2004 and 2006 and, albeit briefly, in the ITV2 spin-off series Footballers' Wives: Extra Time. She also played recurring roles in the British soaps Family Affairs and Hollyoaks,^[6] as well as appearing in episodes of I Dream, Casualty and Meet the Magoons. She starred alongside Meera Syal in the television adaptation of Syal's novel Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee.

Rouass was ranked No.87 and No.69 on FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2004 and FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005 respectively.

In 2009 she appeared as Egyptologist Sarah Page in the third series of the ITV science-fiction series Primeval. She 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;^[7] and her character was subsequently killed off-screen between the third and fourth series.

In spring of 2010, 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. Rouass stated she had funding for the film.^[8]

She played Maya Lahan, a regular character introduced in the ninth series of BBC One drama Spooks which broadcast from September 2010.^[9] She guest starred as the evil Colonel Karim in The Sarah Jane Adventures in October 2010.^[10] Rouass then joined the cast of the BBC medical drama Holby City, appearing from February 2011 as registrar Sahira Shah.^[11] She left Holby City on 17 April 2012, after just 14 months on the show, to take a break to spend time with her family. She returned to the role of Sahira Shah on 9 February 2021.

In 2014 She Appeared In Midsomer Murders as Stephanie King in The Flying Club & then return again as Vanessa Debouverie in 2022 episode A Grain of Truth

She is also currently one of the presenters of "The Channel 4 TV Book Club". ^[12]

In July 2024, it was announced that Rouass would be joining the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Ayesha Siddhu, a woman from Suki Panesar's past.^[13]

Strictly Come Dancing

She 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 Zöe Lucker.^[14]

The pair made it to the last four before being voted off the show on 6 December 2009. She 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.^[15]

Film career

Rouass' first film was City of Dreams produced by Feroze Nadiawala, in which she starred opposite Lisa Ray and Saeed Jaffrey.^[6][16] During the years that she was based in India, early in her career, she acted in some Indian films, Aditya Bhattacharya's Indo-Italian Senso unico (1999) and Dev Benegal's Split Wide Open (1999).

In 2000, Rouass starred in Jag Mhundra's controversial film, Bawandar (English title; The Sand Storm),^[17] about revenge rapes in Rajasthan,^[18] and she made her English-language film debut in 2002 with a small role in The Four Feathers opposite Heath Ledger.^[6]

She starred in The Hunt Feast (2004),^[19] and in 2006 she was cast in Aditya Raj Kapoor's film Don't Stop Dreaming.^[20]

Rouass also appeared in the independent British film Shoot on Sight (2007) opposite Brian Cox, Om Puri and Sadie Frost. In 2008, she appeared in two films, Freebird and the New Zealand funded Apron Strings.^[21]

Rouass appeared in the Harlan Coben Netflix original 8 part mini-series Safe where she played Lauren Marshall.^[22]

Personal life

In 1990, she married family friend Abdeslam Rouass, but the couple divorced in 2003 without having consummated their marriage.^[23][24] Rouass then lived with London businessman Nasir Khan, with whom she held a commitment ceremony in 2005 before family and friends. She later faced criticism for referring to herself and Khan as a married couple, even though the ceremony had no legal standing.^[2] She gave birth to their daughter Inez in February 2007, but ended her relationship with Khan shortly afterwards.^[25] In 2011, Khan was sentenced to nine years in prison for his money-laundering role in a £250 million VAT fraud conspiracy.^[26]

From 2010 to 2011, Rouass dated celebrity chef James Petrie.^[1] In 2012, she began dating professional snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan, to whom she became engaged in February 2013.^[27] Rouass and O'Sullivan appeared together as guests on BBC's Saturday Kitchen in February 2021.^[28] In February 2022, Rouass announced on social media that the couple had ended their relationship,^[29] but they subsequently reconciled.^[30] She features in the 2023 documentary about his playing career, Ronnie O'Sullivan: The Edge of Everything.^[31]

In August 2017, Rouass was caught up in the Barcelona terrorist attack, writing on Twitter during the incident that she was hiding in a restaurant freezer.^[32]

Filmography

Film performances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Senso unico	Yasmine
	Split Wide Open	Nandita
2000	Bawandar	Amy
2002	The Four Feathers	Maya
2003	Two Minutes	Sonita	Short film
2007	Shoot on Sight	Ruby Kaur
	A Cheat in the Park	Laila	Short film
2008	Apron Strings	Anita
	Freebird	Lucinda
2011	Conan the Barbarian	Fialla, Conan's Mother

Television performances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Family Affairs	Tanya Ayuba	2 episodes
2002	Comedy Lab	The Unbelievably Beautiful Woman	Episode: "Meet the Magoons"
	Casualty	Mandy Kellaway	Episode: "You're Going Home in the Back of an Ambulance"
2003	Hollyoaks	Dale Jackson	35 episodes
2004	I Dream	Lollie Das	Episode: "Toone in Love"
2004–2006	Footballers' Wives	Amber Gates	22 episodes
2005	Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee	Tania	Mini-series, 3 episodes
	Footballers' Wives: Extra Time	Amber Gates	3 episodes
	Meet the Magoons	Anita	Episode: "Stairway to Havan"
2006	Casualty	Gina Marshall	Episode: "All Through the Night"
2009	Primeval	Sarah Page	Main cast. Series 3, 10 episodes
2010	The Sarah Jane Adventures	Colonel Tia Karim	2 episodes: "Death of the Doctor: Parts One & Two"
	Spooks	Maya Lahan	7 episodes
2011–2012, 2021	Holby City	Sahira Shah	Main cast, 60 episodes
2011	Sadie J	Maddy	Episode: "Robobootylicious"
2014	Midsomer Murders	Stephanie King	Episode: "The Flying Club"
2015–2016	The Royals	Rani, Deputy Prime Minister	5 episodes
2016	Stella	Maria	8 episodes
	The Lodge	Olivia	4 episodes
2018	Safe	Lauren Marshall	Mini-series, 5 episodes
	Age Before Beauty	Shameem Shah	3 episodes
2022	Traces	Azra McKinven	6 episodes
	Midsomer Murders	Vanessa Debouverie	Episode: "A Grain of Truth"
2023	The Effects of Lying	Sangeeta	Television film
	London Kills	DI Yasmin Rafiq	2 episodes: "Wake-up Call" and "Vandetta"
2024	Tell Me Everything	Samira	Series 2, Episode 2
	EastEnders	Ayesha Siddhu	Guest appearance[33]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2003	The British Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Hollyoaks	Nominated	[34]
2012	17th National Television Awards	Drama Performance: Female	Holby City	Nominated	[35]

References

1. Lubin, Rhian (28 September 2016). "Laila Roauss opens up on life with Ronnie O'Sullivan". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
2. "Rouass hits back at fake marriage claim". 1 October 2009. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
3. "BBC One - Strictly Come Dancing, Series 7, Laila Rouass - launch interview". BBC. 29 September 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
4. "The Language of Fashion". Outlook. India: The Outlook Group. 19 June 1996. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
5. Joshi, Namrata (24 April 2000). "Givin' It A Good Shot". Outlook. India: The Outlook Group. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
6. "Hollyoaks – Laila Rouass". Channel 4. 7 March 2003. Archived from the original on 14 July 2007. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
7. Kilkelly, Daniel (12 May 2010). "Laila Rouass explains 'Primeval' exit". Digital Spy. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
8. Walker, Tim (10 March 2010). "Footballers' Wives star Laila Rouass films life of terrorist Leila Khaled". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
9. Wightman, Catriona (16 September 2010). "'Spooks' – Meet The Newbies: Laila Rouass". Digital Spy. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
10. "The Sarah Jane Adventures – Death of the Doctor". BBC. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
11. Kilkelly, Daniel (7 November 2010). "Laila Rouass joins 'Holby City'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
12. The TV Book Club – Presenters – Laila Rouass – Channel 4
13. "Laila Rouass makes EastEnders guest appearance". BBC. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
14. Conlan, Tara (5 October 2009). "Strictly Come Dancing: BBC receives scores of complaints over racist remark". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
15. Conlan, Tara (13 February 2022). "Laila Rouass on the Graham Norton Radio Show". The Graham Norton Radio Show. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
16. Sehgal, Nutan (23 August 2001). "Wisecracking their way to Bollywood". The Tribune. Chandigarh, India: The Tribune Trust. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
17. "Sandstorm". Film.com. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
18. Marks, Loma-Ann (16 July 2008). "Laila Rouass". Open. Open Magazine Ltd. Archived from the original on 7 November 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
19. "Hunt Feast shooting in Syria with Iraq theme". FilmFestivals.com. 2004. Archived from the original on 7 April 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
20. "Suniel Shetty's films incl. new projects – in chronological order". kabir-bedi.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
21. "Laila Rouass". Channel 4. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
22. Knight, Lewis (6 June 2018). "Cast of Netflix's Safe: Your guide to the mystery drama starring Michael C. Hall". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
23. Wilson, Andy (6 February 2021). "Ronnie O'Sullivan wife: Is the snooker star married to actress Laila Rouass?". Daily Express. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
24. People (6 September 2008). "TV Laila boots out cheating hubby". mirror. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
25. Buxton, Olivia (24 March 2012). "I had to quit Holby, I was missing my daughter grow up: Laila Rouass says you can't have it all". mirror. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
26. "Gang of 15 jailed for £250m VAT fraud". BBC News. 20 December 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
27. "Snooker star Ronnie rockets to happiness after proposing to Laila Rouass". Hello. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
28. "Programmes". BBC Food. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
29. Kent, Sara-Aisha; Knox, Susan (16 February 2022). "Snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan and Laila Rouass split after 10 years together". mirror. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
30. Scheer, Victoria (13 May 2022). "Laila Rouass shares how she got back together with Ronnie O'Sullivan". mirror. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
31. Munro, Lucretia (21 November 2023). "Actress Laila Rouass shares 'soul destroying' times with Ronnie O'Sullivan". The Mirror. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
32. "Strictly Come Dancing and Holby City's Laila Rouass caught up in Barcelona attack – BBC Newsbeat". BBC Newsbeat. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
33. "Laila Rouass makes EastEnders guest appearance". BBC. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
34. "The British Soap Awards 2003". Celebrities Worldwide. 10 May 2003. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
35. Wrightman, Catriona (27 September 2011). "National Television Awards 2012: The nominees". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2012.

External links

• Laila Rouass at the British Film Institute^{[better source needed]}
• Laila Rouass at IMDb