Sophiya Haque (14 June 1971 – 17 January 2013) was an English actress, singer,

video jockey A video jockey (abbreviated VJ or sometimes veejay) is an announcer or host who introduces music videos and live performances on commercial music television channels such as MTV, VH1, Much (TV channel), MuchMusic and Channel V. Origins The term " ...

and dancer. She is best known for playing the role of

Poppy Morales The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' in 2008, by order of first appearance. Tina McIntyre Tina McIntyre, played by Michelle Keegan, made her first appearance on 7 January 2008, ...

in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' between 2008 and 2009.

Early life

Haque was born Syeda Sophia Haque in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, Hampshire to a

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, eponymous bay. Bangladeshi nationality law, Bangladeshi citizenship was fo ...

father and a

British Jewish British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British citizens who are Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 2021. History The firs ...

mother. She was the youngest of three daughters. She was brought up by her mother, Thelma, a schoolteacher. She attended Priory School in Portsmouth, and took dancing lessons from the age of two and a half at Mary Forrester's Rainbow School of Dance before moving at the age of 13 to London (where she lived with her father, Amirul Haque, a restaurateur, and his second wife), training full-time at the

Arts Educational Schools, London Arts Educational Schools, or ArtsEd, is an independent performing arts school in Chiswick, West London, England. Overview ArtsEd provides specialist vocational training at secondary, further and higher education level in musical theatre and ...

Career

Haque started as the lead vocalist in the band Akasa; they signed a deal with

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

in 1988. Subsequently, she worked as a video jockey for

MTV Asia MTV was a pan-Asian music pay television channel that was launched on 5 May 1995 as a standalone pay television service. The channel was owned by Paramount Networks EMEAA. History Pre-launch The first incarnation of MTV Asia was launched on ...

for seven years and

Channel V Channel '' ("V" as in the letter, not the Roman numeral "5") is a Chinese and former Asian pay television musical network originally launched by Star TV Hong Kong (now Disney Networks Group Asia Pacific). It was part of the unit of Disney In ...

. Haque was employed as a presenter at STAR TV in Hong Kong in 1992. From 1994, she began appearing on TV in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and in 1997 she moved to

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

full-time to work on the Channel V India service. Her first Bollywood film was '' Khoobsurat'', and she later made several more including '' Mangal Pandey: The Rising''. In 2002, Haque returned to the United Kingdom to star as Rani in

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

's ''

Bombay Dreams ''Bombay Dreams'' is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan, originally produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for two ...

''. In 2005, she starred as Janoo Rani in the West End theatre musical production of ''

The Far Pavilions ''The Far Pavilions'' is an epic novel of British-Indian history by M. M. Kaye, published in 1978, which tells the story of a British officer during the British Raj. There are many parallels between this novel and Rudyard Kipling's '' Kim'' t ...

''. In 2012, she starred as Soraya in ''Wah! Wah! Girls''. In 2008, she took a small supporting role in the film '' Wanted''. Between December 2008 and June 2009, she played

, the barmaid and assistant manager of the

Rovers Return The Rovers Return Inn, also known simply as the Rovers, is a fictional public house in the long-running British soap opera ''Coronation Street''. The Rovers Return occupies a corner of the fictional Coronation Street and Rosamund Street set ...

, in ''

'' and by coincidence, shared her dressing room with Coronation Street's Auntie Pam played by actress

Kate Anthony Kate Anthony (born 11 April 1964) is an English actress best known for her role as Pam Hobsworth on the ITV soap ''Coronation Street''. Career She has appeared in ''Doctors'' playing Ellen Murray, '' Sparkhouse'' playing Jenny Bullock, '' ...

, who was also her first cousin. In 2012, she appeared in

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''

Fairy Tales A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the Folklore, folklore genre. Such stories typically feature Magic (supernatural), magic, Incantation, e ...

'' series and in 15 episodes of ''

House of Anubis ''House of Anubis'' is a mystery television series developed for Nickelodeon based on the Dutch–Belgian television series '' Het Huis Anubis''. The series was created by Hans Bourlon and Gert Verhulst and premiered on Nickelodeon on 1 Jan ...

'' as Senkhara. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was working in the

Michael Grandage Michael Grandage Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 2 May 1962) is a British theatre director and producer. He is currently artistic director of the Michael Grandage Company. From 2002 to 2012 he was artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse ...

production of ''

Privates on Parade ''Privates on Parade: A Play with Songs in Two Acts'' is a 1977 farce by English playwright Peter Nichols (book and lyrics), with music by Denis King. The drama draws upon Nichols' own experiences in the real-life Combined Services Entertai ...

'', playing the role of, Sylvia Morgan, a Welsh-Indian singer and dancer performing for the

British troops The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Gurkhas, 25,742 volunteer reserve personnel and 4,697 "other personnel", for a total of 108,4 ...

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

in 1948.

Personal life and death

Haque lived in

Knaphill Knaphill is a village in Surrey, England, between Woking to the east and Farnborough to the west; to the south and north on the A322 – its western border – are Brookwood, and Bisley. Some of the village is on a hill, hence its na ...

, Surrey, with her partner, musical director David White, and the couple were in the process of building a houseboat when she fell ill. Around Christmas 2012, Haque was diagnosed with cancer. She developed a lung clot and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

and in the early hours of 17 January 2013, she died in her sleep in a London hospital, while undergoing tests.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haque, Sophiya 1971 births 2013 deaths 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Deaths from cancer in England English dance musicians English female dancers English film actresses English people of Bangladeshi descent English women singers English soap opera actresses English stage actresses English television actresses English women television presenters Actresses from Portsmouth English video jockeys People from the Borough of Woking Mass media people from Portsmouth