Jai Sharma may be having a quiet time of late in Emmerdale after rekindling his romance with Laurel Thomas but things haven't always been this way. The character, played by Chris Bisson, made a swish arrival into the village with his brother Nikhil and sister Priya when they opened sweet factory back in 2009.
And in 13 years, it's fair to say Jai has been in plenty of predicaments. From discovering he was the father of Declan' Macey's supposed daughter, Mia, following her death in a road collision and having a one-night stand with Pyria's friend Rachel Breckle which resulted in her conceiving their beloved son, Archie, - to his marriage with Charity, then Declan's sister Megan and battling a cocaine addiction.
More recently, Jai has founded love with Laurel but their relationship hasn't been plain sailing. After a split following Jai taking a loan in Laurel's name, the pair rekindled only for Laurel to kick him to the kerb again when he was accused of being back on drugs after they were found in the office of his sister's wedding planning business.
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The truth about them belonging to Leyla Cavanagh was later revealed, however, it still took time for Laurel to give into her true feelings and take Jai back. Luckily for Chris, his real life isn't as dramatic as his soap alter ego.
Chris, who hails from Wythenshawe, has been in a happy relationship with Rowena Finn for more than 16 years. The loved-up pair got engaged back in 2016 with the soap star announcing the happy news on his official Twitter page. "Finally, I popped the question to @row_finn and..." he wrote before an image of scrabble pieces spelled out: "She said yes."
Recalling the moment he asked his partner to be his wife while in the Lake District for their 10th anniversary, Chris told OK! Magazine: "We’d seen an elderly couple walking and holding hands earlier. It was very sweet. I said to Rowena, 'There’s a reason I brought you here. You know that old couple we saw earlier?' 'Well, would you like to grow old like that with me?'"
The pair first met by chance when they were both in Marbella enjoying separate holidays, but they hit it off straight away. "I knew I liked him when he asked me to put sunscreen on his back and I got really nervous," Rowena told the publication at the time.
Before getting engaged, Chris and Rowena became first-time parents when their son, Harry, was born in 2013. And just two years later in 2015, they welcomed their first daughter into the world, Ella Rose. And Chris is regularly posting pictures of himself with his family on social media from their adventures.
Earlier this week, Chris shared an image of the family of four after they jetted off to Majorca for a sunshine break during half-term. "Mallorca half term," the 47-year-old captioned the snap. Absolutely love this island. We've been going for years and there is always something beautiful to see. Took the kids down the winding road to Sa Calobra this time. They loved it."
Away from his private life, fans may also remember that Chris hasn't always worked on Emmerdale and that he actually spent a number of years in a rival soap. He played Vikram Desai in Coronation Street from 1999 to 2002. Vikram was Dev Alahan's cousin and ran the corner shop before it was Dev's. He was the co-founder of Street Cars alongside Steve McDonald.
At Chris' current Emmerdale co-star Rebecca Sarker was already in Weatherfield playing Nita Desai, Vikram’s sister and his boss at the corner shop, before Nita arrived, who was Vikram’s sister and his boss at The Corner Shop.
But Nita ended up leaving the family business to join Freshco supermarket and in 2000 she left the street for Inverness to run her own store while Vickram took a one-way trip to Mumbai after he got involved in drug smuggling to clear his gambling debts before clearing out Street Cars' tax account to leave in 2002.
Chris, however, quit Corrie amid frustration at lean storylines. "I'd thought about leaving Coronation Street several times before I finally quit," he told the Manchester Evening News in 2007. "That was because I hadn't had a decent storyline for a while." He added at the time "I have been an actor since I was 13 and I'm not particularly worried. I played the same part in Coronation Street for four years."
Chris' first TV role was actually like many of his fellow soap stars. He appeared in ITV's Children's Ward, playing JJ for 13 episodes from 1990, before having roles in Cops and Where the Heart Is. Over the years he also appeared in Prime Suspect, Holby City and may also be remembered for his role as Kash Karib in Shameless.
And back in 2020, the dad-of-two revealed that he had undergone a follicular unit transplantation also known as a hair transplant. The Woolpack regular revealed that while solving his hair loss concerns gave him huge personal satisfaction, his career was also a driving force behind the decision.
Talking to Manchester Evening News, he said: "As soon as you start losing your hair you’re immediately cast older, so it does reduce the amount of parts you can play. If you are 40 and bald you probably get cast as being 45 or 50. It can affect your career.
"There are definitely more parts for actors who have a full head of hair. You don't know what opportunities might be lost." The Manchester star’s surgery was carried out at the city’s Farjo Hair Institute, and Chris says it’s made his life easier both on and off screen.
He added: “In real life you don’t really notice your hair loss day to day. At work it’s different because you sit in front of a mirror and have a specific look that you need to achieve. The first time I spotted it was probably in my early to mid 30s. I was quite pleased that I had managed to keep my hair for as long as I had. But when you go into work and they are having to adjust the lighting, or make-up are having to put more powder on your head just to take the shine off before you go for a take, you notice."
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