Laila Rouass's Biography

Who is Laila Rouass?

Laila's father is Moroccan and her mother is from Goa in India.

She was brought up in the East End of London and when she was young she collected snails.

She went to India on an assignment and ended up living in Bombay for six years. She became a presenter on MTV Asia and the Indian version of Blind Date.

Laila Rouass also did modelling and then built up credits in a range of films including City of Dreams, Four Feathers, plus an Italian movie and a Chinese film in English.

Her early TV credits in the UK include presenting on the BBC 2 show Network East Late and acting in Family Affairs and Hollyoaks.

In 2009 Laila Rouass partnered Anton Du Beke in Strictly Come Dancing. They came fourth.

Like fellow Strictly Come Dancing series 7 contestant Zoe Lucker, Laila Rouass is famous for her role in the ITV drama Footballers' Wives.

Laila Rouass played Amber Gates in Footballers' Wives.

More recently she starred as Sarah Page in Primeval.

Laila Rouass told The Guardian that she meditates and sometimes puts on a tape by the motivational speaker Zig Ziglar.

On 30 September 2010, the BBC revealed that Laila Rouass had been cast as Colonel Karim in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

In November 2010 the BBC announced that Laila Rouass would join the cast of Holby City as surgeon Sahira Shah from February 2011.

In 2012, she started going out with snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan.

They got engaged in 2013.

Before going out with Ronnie O'Sullivan, she went out with businessman Nasir Khan (who was later jailed for a VAT fraud). They had a daughter Inez.

She also dated chef James Petrie.

On 17 Augusts 2017, Laila Rouass tweeted about how she was caught up in the terrorist attack in Barcelona:

"In the middle of the attack. Hiding in a restaurant freezer. Happened so fast. Praying for the safety of everyone here x"