Sophiya Haque

Sophiya Haque (14 June 1971 – 17 January 2013) was an English actress, singer, video jockey and dancer. She is best known for playing the role of Poppy Morales in Coronation Street between 2008 and 2009. Early life Haque was born Syeda Sophia Haque in Portsmouth, Hampshire to a Bangladeshi father and a British Jewish 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. Career Haque started as the lead vocalist in the band Akasa; they signed a deal with Warner Bros. in 1988. Subsequently, she worked as a video jockey for MTV Asia for seven years and Channel V.