Carley Stenson

Plays Steph Dean

Carley was born in 1982 and grew up in Billinge in Wigan, Greater Manchester. She attended the local St Peter's High School and later Winstanley College, where she did her 'A' Levels.

When she was three-years-old, Carley started going to dance classes and in her early years she appeared in pantomimes and musicals and entered singing and dancing competitions. In 2000, she beat over 15,000 hopefuls to reach the final 15 of a competition run by the News of the World newspaper to put together a singing group although she didn't win the competition.

Carley added acting to her list of skills when she was a teenager after joining a Saturday acting class run by her agent and she was accepted into drama school after finishing her 'A' Levels. She auditioned for Hollyoaks in between school and drama college and she gave up her college place to take the role in the soap.

Now the longest-serving female member in Hollyoaks, Carley has not given up her music skills and as well as writing songs and playing the drums and piano she sings in a girl group called Diamond Live alongside friends Catherine Rowse, Emma Schofield and Emma Lori. The girls perform classic hits and numbers from musicals, often at charity events.

Carley is committed to raising money for charity and since Steph's epilepsy storyline in 2003 she has become a patron of Sheffield-based epilepsy charity Fable, alongside co-star and boyfriend Ricky Whittle, who plays Calvin Valentine. Carley also appeared in the BBC's Children In Need 2007 charity show Celebrity Scissorhands.