Inside Corrie's Sabrina star Luana Santos' life – from incredible big break to surprising link to co-star
Coronation Street's Sabrina Adetiba is in grave danger as murderer Joel Deering appears to have picked her out as his next victim.
On Friday, 21 June Corrie viewers will see solicitor Joel (Calum Lill) take advantage of an upset Sabrina outside of Weatherfield police station as she cries over brother Gav's arrest and he hands her his business card, believing he has got his claws into another vulnerable young woman.
But will Sabrina suffer the same fate as her late pal Lauren, or does she suspect something is amiss with Joel?
As the next stage of Joel's dark plot unfolds, we take a look at Sabrina actress Luana Santos' life, including the surprising link to one of her soap co-stars.
Who does Luana Santos play in Coronation Street?
Luana is known to Corrie fans as Sabrina, who came into the soap in 2023 where her character was originally known as Bec and thought to be Gav's girlfriend.
However, it quickly became clear that she was really Gav's sister Sabrina and she grew close to Max Turner (Paddy Bever) after meeting him while he was carrying out community service work for having been part of a far right extremist group, which she didn't realise at the time.
Sabrina was also friends with Lauren, Joel's first murder victim, and for a while she and Gav were accused of leaking details about Lauren's life to the press.
Joel might think he has found another easy victim in Sabrina who he believes is troubled and vulnerable like Lauren, but she isn't taken in by him and asks to meet, which may well be a trap to spark his downfall.
Big break into acting
Luana was just 17 when she landed her Corrie role in 2023 and has said she couldn't believe her luck as it was the first professional acting job she had gone for.
She told Wigan Today: "As a kid, I was always a performing type of character so I suppose I always knew that acting was something I’d do in the future."
"I was so surprised because I was panicking about everything I did in the self-tape, I was criticising myself constantly," she added of her audition.
"I thought ‘it’s my first one, I’m obviously not going to get it’ and when I got the email I was in college. It was a huge shock."
Surprising link to Corrie co-stars
Luana studied at The Pendleton School of Theatre and even appeared in their production of One Man, Two Guvnors as recently as March.
But the school hasn't just given her the acting tools she needed to land her first professional job - fans might not be aware that it also links her to some of her co-stars, including Mollie Gallagher.
Pendleton has proved a great launchpad into soap as it also trained Mollie who plays Nina Lucas, as well as other Corrie stars Twana Omer who plays Daryan Zahawi and Faye Brookes, who played Kate Connor until 2019.
Just like Sabrina
The young star has said she can really identify with her Corrie alter ego - although hopefully without the dramatic troubles that Sabrina faces.
Asked by soap site Eastieoaks whether she would be friends with her character, she replied: "Absolutely. Both my friends and family tell me I’m so similar to Sabrina, especially how much she eats.
"I think I’d get along with her because we’re both really straight forward and quite playful but at the same time she does not let herself get messed about."
Supportive family and friends
Luana says she's never felt more welcomed in a work environment than she has done at Corrie and her co-stars were pleased to make her feel at home when she joined the cast.
After she excitedly posted her casting announcement on Instagram, Paddy commented: "So so chuffed for you Luana."
She also joined the cast for their annual summer party last year.
The soap star also has plenty of support from her nearest and dearest, telling Eastieoaks of getting the job: "The first people I told were my aunt and my mother. I contacted them straight away and told them I got the role, I’ve never heard them so happy. They told me they knew I was going to get the role, they’d been telling me the minute I sent the tape I would."
Coronation Street airs on ITV1 and ITVX at 8pm on Friday, 21 June
