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Emmerdale Jai Sharma actor Chris Bisson's life from private relationship to on-screen kiss trouble

Emmerdale's Jai Sharma actor, Chris Bisson has a completely different life away from the ITV soap.

The star Chris Bisson has had an impressive career and is well recognised for the variety of characters he has portrayed in soaps and TV shows.

The actor is best recognised for his roles as Jai Sharma in Emmerdale. He first arrived in the village with his brother Nikhil and sister Priya when they opened a sweet factory back in 2009.

READ MORE: Emmerdale’s Jay Kontzle's joy as wife Mimi gives birth to baby number 3

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.

He also 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.

Is Chris married and does he have children?

When it comes to Chris’s love life he likes it keep it away from the spotlight however we do know that he has been in a long term relationship with Rowena Finn for 16 years. The pair first met by chance while on holiday in Marbella.

The loved-up couple got engaged back in 2016 with the soap star announcing the happy news on his official Twitter page.

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.

Chris forgotten Corrie role

Away from Emmerdale Chris actually spent a number of years in a rival soap Coronation Street. He played the role of Vikram Desai 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.

Speaking about why he left the soap he told Manchester Evening News: "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’s hair transplant

In 2020, the dad-of-two revealed that he had a hair transplant. Chris admitted that it gave him huge personal satisfaction and 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."

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."

Kissing scene trouble

Back in 2011 while speaking to Ok! interview Chris made reference to his steamy on-screen appearances and said his partner Rowena previously had trouble with his more intimate scenes.

Chris' character Jai Sharma has had multiple marriages but although his relationship has flourished on set, the actor tries to keep his kissing scenes private when the cameras stop rolling.

Talking about this in more detail, Chris said: "In the past, I’ve told her when I’ve had kissing scenes, but that would stay with her for the rest of the day, so now I tend not to say unless asked. Those scenes are difficult for me to shoot and for Rowena to watch.”

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