Samia Longchambon

Samia Maxine Longchambon (née Ghadie, previously Smith; born 13 July 1982) is an English actress. She has played the role of Maria Connor in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street since 2000. She also appeared as a contestant on the eighth series of Dancing on Ice in 2013, and won the third series of Cooking with the Stars in 2023.

Samia Longchambon
Ghadie in 2011
Born	Samia Maxine Ghadie (1982-07-13) 13 July 1982 (age 42) Eccles, Greater Manchester, England
Nationality	English
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present
Employer	ITV
Television	Adam's Family Tree Coronation Street Dancing on Ice Cooking with the Stars
Spouses	Matt Smith ​ ​ (m. 2005; div. 2011)​ Sylvain Longchambon ​ (m. 2016)​
Children	2

Early life

Samia Ghadie was born in Eccles, Greater Manchester to Joseph, a French-Lebanese shop owner and Patsy, an English actress whom he met whilst working in Abu Dhabi. Samia lived there for a period as a child.^[1] She has a brother named Tariq.

Career

Longchambon first appeared as an extra in Coronation Street at the age of eight and 10 years later she became a regular on the show. She made her first credited TV appearance when she was 11 years old, appearing in an episode of Cracker ("The Big Crunch"). She also made appearances in Children's Ward, Heartbeat, Doctors, There's Only One Jimmy Grimble (feature film) and the children's series Life Force.

In 2000, she beat both Suzanne Shaw and Kimberley Walsh to get the role of Maria Sutherland in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.^[2] In Autumn 2009, she took a short break from her role as Maria in Coronation Street on maternity leave and resumed her role in the show in May 2010. She won an episode of Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes impersonating Holly Valance.^[3] She also made an appearance in Bo' Selecta! in 2004 as part of a Coronation Street sketch along with co-star Suranne Jones.

In January 2013, Longchambon was a competitor in the eighth series of Dancing on Ice, partnered with French professional ice skater Sylvain Longchambon.^[4] However, she was concussed a few days into the pre-series training and^[4] eliminated in week eight of the competition, losing out in a skate-off to Luke Campbell.

In 2023, Longchambon won third series of Cooking with the Stars.^[5]

Personal life

She married Matt Smith, a property developer, at St Philip's Church in Alderley Edge, Cheshire on 10 September 2005 after a seven-month engagement. On 19 October 2009, she gave birth to a baby girl, Freya,^[6] following which she left Coronation Street temporarily on maternity leave. On 4 January 2011, she and her husband announced that they had separated by mutual agreement.^[7] On 4 November 2011, she revealed that she had reverted to her maiden surname of Ghadie following a decree absolute which had been granted the same day.^[8] In May 2015, she announced her engagement to French professional ice skater Sylvain Longchambon.^[9] They married in August 2016.^[10] Their son, Yves Joseph Longchambon, was born on 24 September 2015.^[11]

Longchambon's father Joseph died of cancer on 14 April 2009.^[12]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1996	Bob's Weekend	Kimberley's friend
2000	There's Only One Jimmy Grimble	Sara

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Coronation Street	Extra	Episode: 3482
1994	Cracker	Rosie	Episode: "The Big Crunch: Part 1"
1995	Children's Ward	Charlotte	2 episodes
1997–1998	Adam's Family Tree	Jane	Main role; 13 episodes
1997, 2000	Heartbeat	Maddy; Sian Horrocks	2 episodes
1999	The Cops	Emma Hayes	Series 2: Episode 9
2000	Life Force	Marianne	Episode: "Age Before Beauty"
	Doctors	Kelly Morris	Episode: "Game Over"
2000–present	Coronation Street	Maria Connor	Series regular
2003	TV Burp		Series 2: Episode 1
	Children in Need		1 episode
2010	Bookaboo	Unnamed	Episode: "A Visitor for Bear"
2013	Dancing on Ice	Herself	Contestant (5th place)
2018	Big Star's Little Star	Herself	Participant
2023	Cooking with the Stars	Herself	Contestant; winner

Guest appearances

Samia has appeared twice on the ITV game show, All Star Family Fortunes. Her first appearance was in a Christmas special in December 2006, when she appeared as part of the Battersby-Brown family.^[13] Her second appearance was in May 2012, when she appeared with her own family. In 2008, by then known as Samia Smith, she appeared as a guest on Keith Lemon's Very Brilliant World Tour when the show visited Egypt. On 20 September 2014, Samia appeared as a contestant on the primetime game show, The Chase: Celebrity Special.^[14]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2002	British Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[15]
2003	British Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[16]
2004	British Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[17]
2005	British Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[17]
2005	Inside Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Won	[17]
2006	British Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[17]
2006	Inside Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[17]
2006	Inside Soap Awards	Best Dressed Soap Star	Won	[17]
2007	British Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[18]
2007	Inside Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[19]
2008	British Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[20]
2008	Inside Soap Awards	Best Actress	Nominated	[21]
2009	British Soap Awards	Best Actress	Nominated	[22]
2013	All About Soap Awards	Forbidden Lovers (shared with Charlie Condou)	Nominated	[23]
2014	Inside Soap Awards	Best Bitch	Nominated	[24]
2014	Inside Soap Awards	Sexiest Female	Nominated	[24]
2017	Inside Soap Awards	Best Bad Girl	Nominated	[25]

References

1. "Corrie's Samia Smith AND HER BIG NIGHT BEAUTY SECRETS". Findarticles.com. 22 May 2005. Archived from the original on 20 September 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
2. "Smith, Samia – Who's who on UK TV from hellomagazine.com, HELLO!". Hello!. 8 October 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
3. Sexy Female Soap Stars – AOL Photo Gallery
4. Jury, Anna (7 January 2013). "Samia Ghadie on her Dancing on Ice preparations". Daily Mirror.
5. "Cooking with the Stars crowns 2023 winner". Digital Spy. 8 August 2023.
6. "Corrie's Samia Smith gives birth – Coronation Street News – Showbiz". Digital Spy. 19 October 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
7. "Coronation Street star Samia Smith splits from husband Matthew". Daily Mirror. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
8. "'Coronation Street' Samia Smith granted divorce, uses maiden name - Coronation Street News - Showbiz". Digital Spy. 4 November 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
9. Briggs, Zoe (25 May 2015). "Pregnant Samia Ghadie confirms she's engaged to Sylvain Longchambon". OK! Magazine.
10. "Samia Ghadie exclusively reveals first pictures of glamorous wedding to Sylvain Longchambon". OK!. 29 August 2016.
11. Briggs, Zoe (28 September 2015). "Samia Ghadie gives birth to beautiful and healthy baby boy". OK! Magazine.
12. Beth Hardie (14 April 2009). "',mirror.co.uk', – "Coronation Street star Samia Smith devastated after losing father" – retrieved 16 April 2009". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
13. Family Fortunes Corrie Christmas Special (1 December 2006). "Corrieblog: Family Fortunes Corrie Christmas Special". Corrieblog.tv. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
14. "The Chase: Celebrity Special". ITV. 8 September 2014. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018.
15. Welsh, James (16 May 2002). "British Soap Awards 2002: Nominations". Digital Spy. Hearst Communications. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
16. "The British Soap Awards 2003". Celebrities Worldwide. 10 May 2003. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
17. "British Television Soap Awards". thecustard.tv. Archived from the original on 2 February 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
18. "The British Soap Awards 2007: The Winners". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 4 August 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
19. Green, Kris (3 July 2007). "Inside Soap Awards 2007: The Nominations". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi (UK) Ltd. Archived from the original on 21 June 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
20. "The British Soap Awards 2008: The Winners". Digital Spy. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
21. "Inside Soap Awards 2008 – Nominations". MSN. Microsoft. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
22. Green, Kris; KilKelly, Daniel (10 May 2009). "British Soap Awards 2009: The Winners". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
23. "'Hollyoaks' leads 2013 All About Soap Award winners". Digital Spy. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
24. Dainty, Sophie (29 July 2014). "Inside Soap Awards 2014 longlist revealed". Digital Spy. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
25. Harp, Justin (22 August 2017). "Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks all make the Inside Soap Awards longlist". Digital Spy. Retrieved 21 August 2017.

External links

• Samia Longchambon at IMDb