Natalie Gumede is a British actress. She is known for playing Kirsty Soames in the ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, from 2011 to 2013. She previously played China in BBC Threecomedy showIdeal. She has also appeared in The Persuasionists, Emmerdale and Doctor Who among other television shows. Gumede was also runner-up in the 2013 series of Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One. In 2017, Gumede began appearing in Netflix originalFree Rein as Maggie Steel Phillips.
From 2004 until 2007, Gumede played China in the dark-comedy sitcom series, Ideal, who along with her friend Asia, was one of Moz's regular clients. Her character featured in the pilot episode, and was a regular in the first three series. In 2008, she featured in her first full-length film, Clubbed, a British drama about a 1980s factory worker who takes up a job as a club doorman. In 2005, Gumede made a guest appearance in the ITV soap opera, Emmerdale, portraying Tania Coles. In 2010, Gumede featured in the sitcom The Persuasionists, broadcast on BBC Two, set in the world of advertising, starring Iain Lee, Simon Farnaby, Adam Buxton, Jarred Christmas and Daisy Haggard. In September 2011, Gumede made her first appearance in the ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, portraying Kirsty Soames, who became the domestic abusive love interest to mechanic Tyrone Dobbs. She had previously tried out for the part of Kelly Crabtree, but lost out to Tupele Dorgu. For her portrayal of the character, Gumede had received the Best Newcomer accolade at the 2012 British Soap Awards. She was later nominated for Best Soap Newcomer at the TV Choice Awards and voted Most Popular Newcomer during the 18th National Television Awards. In Digital Spy's end of year reader poll, Kirsty's domestic abuse storyline with on-screen boyfriend Tyrone won Best Storyline with 28.3% of the vote. On 21 February 2013, it was announced that she would leave the soap after a year-and-a-half, and departed when her character, Kirsty, went to prison on 3 April 2013. In 2015, she played the role of Bella in the ITV series Jekyll & Hyde.
''Strictly Come Dancing''
In 2013, Gumede was a runner-up on the eleventh series of Strictly Come Dancing. Her professional partner was the eighth series champion, Artem Chigvintsev. They quickly became the early favourites for the title after a strong start. In the Final, she lost out to Abbey Clancy & Aljaz Skorjanec and came Joint second along with Susanna Reid & Kevin Clifton.
