Emmerdale's Jai Sharma actor, Chris Bisson, enjoys a quiet life with his wife and children off-screen, a far cry from his troubled character.
Chris has been a staple on ITV's village drama for over 13 years, carrying with him some of the show's heaviest storylines and plot points. His portrayal of Jai Sharma has been pulled in every direction - from discovering he was supposedly the father of Mia to dealing with her death, multiple marriages and cocaine addictions.
His time in Emmerdale has been anything but quiet and finally, after a decade in, it looks like his troubled past is behind him as he settles into the quiet life. As he cosies up to Laurel, setting the good life in place, his off-screen reality is a far cry from the ups and downs of Jai.
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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.
Recalling the moment he asked his partner to be his wife while in the Lake District for their 10th anniversary, speaking to OK! Magazine, he said: "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?'"
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.
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.
As Chris' current Emmerdale co-star Rebecca Sarker was already in Weatherfield playing Nita Desai, Vikram’s sister, and ended up as his boss at the shop. But the character 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 Chris' character 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 said he quit Corrie amid frustration at lean storylines. Discussing the topic with Manchester Evening News, he said: "I'd thought about leaving Coronation Street several times before I finally quit.
"That was because I hadn't had a decent storyline for a while. 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.
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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