Natalie Gumede

Natalie Gumede is an English actress. She is best known for playing Kirsty Soames in the ITV1 soap opera Coronation Street from 2011 to 2013. She previously played China in BBC Three comedy show Ideal. She has also appeared in The Persuasionists, Emmerdale and Doctor Who among other television shows. Gumede was a runnerup in the 2013 series of Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One.

Gumede was born in Burnley, Lancashire and lived in Colne during her early life, attending first Christ Church C of E Primary School and then Park High School. Her father is Zimbabwean and her mother is of English descent. Her grandfather Josiah Gumede was the only President of the shortlived ZimbabweRhodesia. At the age ofwhile attending Pendle Hippodrome Youth Theatre, she was picked by BBC producers to help present the northwest regional insert for Children in Need in 1995. She attended the London Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts graduating with a BA Hons in 2003 from a threeyear course in Acting.

Source: Wikipedia