Inside the life of Corrie’s Sabrina star Luana Santos – from incredible big break to surprising bond with co-star

Coronation Street’s Sabrina Adetiba is in grave danger as murderer Joel Deering appears to have chosen her as his next victim.

On Friday, June 21, Corrie viewers will see barrister Joel (Calum Lill) take advantage of an upset Sabrina outside Weatherfield Police Station as she cries over her brother Gav’s arrest, and he hands her his business card, thinking his- clawed at another vulnerable. young woman

But will Sabrina suffer the same fate as her late friend Lauren, or does she suspect something is wrong with Joel?

As the next stage of Joel’s dark plot unfolds, we take a look at the life of actress Sabrina Luana Santos, including her surprising connection with one of her TV co-stars.

Who is Luana Santos playing on Coronation Street?

Luana is known to Corrie fans as Sabrina, who entered television in 2023, where her character was originally known as Bec and was believed to be Gav’s girlfriend.

However, it quickly became clear that she was really Gav’s sister Sabrina and she became close to Max Turner (Paddy Bever) after meeting him while he was doing community service for being part of a gang far right extremist, which she did. I don’t realize at the time.

Sabrina was also friends with Lauren, Joel’s first victim, and she and Gav were accused for a time of leaking details about Lauren’s life to the media.

Joel may think he’s found another easy victim in Sabrina, who he believes is troubled and vulnerable like Lauren, but she’s not taken by him and asks to meet, which may be a trap to cause her downfall.

Big break in acting

Luana was just 17 when she landed her Corrie role in 2023 and said she couldn’t believe her luck as it was her first professional acting job.

She told Wigan Today: “Growing up I was always an acting kind of character, so I guess I always knew acting was something I would do in the future.”

“I was so surprised because I was panicking about everything I was doing in self-tape, I was constantly criticizing myself,” she added of the audition.

“I thought ‘it’s my first, obviously I’m not going to get it’ and I was in college when I got the email. It was a huge shock.”

Surprising link to Corrie co-stars

Luana studied at The Pendleton School of Theater and even appeared in their production of One Man, Two Guvnors just this March.

But the school didn’t just give her the acting tools she needed to land her first professional job – fans may not be aware that it also connects her to some of her peers, including Molie Gallagher.

Pendleton proved a great launching pad in the soap as she also trained Mollie, who plays Nina Lucas, as well as fellow Corrie stars Twana Omer, who plays Daryan Zahawi and Faye Brookes, who played Kate Connor until 2019.

Just like Sabrina

The young star said she can really relate to her Corrie alter ego – albeit hopefully without the dramatic problems Sabrina faces.

Asked by soap website Eastieoaks if she would be friends with her character, she replied: ‘Absolutely. Both friends and family tell me they are so similar to Sabrina, especially how much she eats.

“I think I would get along with her because we’re both very honest and quite playful, but at the same time she doesn’t get confused.”

Supportive family and friends

Luana says she has never felt more welcome in a working environment than she did on Corrie and her colleagues were delighted to make her feel at home when she joined the cast.

After excitedly posting her casting announcement on Instagram, Paddy commented: “So excited for you Luana.”

She also joined the cast for their annual summer bash last year.

The soap star also has plenty of support from her nearest and dearest, telling Eastieoaks she will be getting the job: “The first people I told were my aunts and my mum. I contacted them immediately and told them I got the part, I’ve never heard them so happy. They told me they knew I was going to get the part, they told me the moment I sent the tape.

Coronation Street airs on ITV1 and ITVX at 8pm on Friday 21 June