Tiana Benjamin
As EastEnders' brazen temptress Chelsea Fox, she has romped on a massage table and bedded Grant Mitchell.
Away from Albert Square, her idea of keeping fit is pole-dancing. And she's hotly tipped to win the title of Sexiest Female at next month's British Soap Awards.
Yet Tiana Benjamin insists: "Me? Stunning? No way!"
Then she adds: "I'm no librarian, no goody two shoes - but Chelsea's background is a lot different from my own. I'm no slapper."
Tiana is 5ft 9in with endless legs. She was scouted to be a model at 14 and three years later was plucked from a dance class for a string of sizzling pop videos.
Yet the 23-year-old actress seems to be the last one to twig as she fusses with her hair in the mirror and tugs at the hem of her belt-brief frock - but admits a certain part of her anatomy does attract attention.
"I'm not aware I'm stunning, no," she says.
"I'm a mess. But I have always been lucky with boys - mainly because of my butt. It's massive.
And I'm no shrinking violet. I'm not afraid to ask guys out."
Tiana grew up in North London with her mum Janice, a teacher, her older sister and younger brother. She recently moved to a place of her own. And, though she's nowhere near as saucy as Chelsea, there's clearly a naughty side to her. "Pole dancing is really good exercise. It's a great health booster. I may get one for my front room, now I've got a place of my own," she grins.
She clearly knows her own mind, does Tiana. When, as a teenager, she was approached by a scout in Top Shop and asked if she wanted to be a model, she said no.
"I wanted to stay on at school. Looking back now, I wish I'd done it. But, back then, I wanted to be an architect. Or a lawyer. I used to love Ally McBeal," she says.
Still in her teens, she won a place at drama school. But her family couldn't afford the fees, so she took a Saturday job and joined a dance class.
Two months later she was spotted limbering up - "I was looking hot in a belly top" - and offered a spot on a pop video for Artful Dodger.
She went on to shake her stuff for Ms Dynamite, Blue and Dido. Her hotpant-clad bump-and-grind was in hot demand.
"I'm not shy. I'm very comfortable with my body. Why not? I'm not boiler suit material," she says. But she loved acting ever since starring in local rep at the age of 11.
And when EastEnders came knocking, Tiana didn't have to be asked twice - even though she had to turn down a part in a Harry Potter movie. After a "blink-and-you'd miss it" role in The Goblet of Fire, she was signed up for the next one. "But the dates kept changing.
And EastEnders had to say in the end, 'It's us or them.' I didn't have to think too hard.
"I was very, very lucky to even cough in that film. But I'd grown up with EastEnders. I made the right choice," she says. Bad girl Chelsea exploded onto the square two years ago, kicking off by luring Ross Kemp's Grant into bed. She's just signed a new 12-month contract and a "huge" storyline beckons in June.
"I'd love to stay on the show as long as they'll have me. It's not up to me. But I'd love to be Pat Butcher one day - minus the earrings!" For a sexy TV star, she has managed to maintain a surprisingly low profile. Her only brushes with sensation have been a catfight at a nightclub two months ago - she lost a shoe - and romantic links, hotly denied, with two of her co-stars, James Alexandrou (Martin Fowler) and Matt Di Angelo (Deano Wicks).
"Matt is cute. But we're great friends.
That's all. With James, people must have confused me with somebody else. As for the fight, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I've so done the big partying. I'm just focused on the acting right now."
Her love life has been similarly discreet.
Whoever her mystery man is - "he's in property" - she certainly likes to keep him on his toes. "At the moment," she says, "I like normal guys. But I'm not about to say I won't go out with an actor. In fact, there's no one I wouldn't see - he could be a footballer, an astronaut or work at Asda. As long as he's funny, confident in his own skin."
And size matters. "I'm a girl and of course ideally I want a man who towers over me and makes me feel dainty and protected. I like a taller man - a manly man who's a bit rough round the edges, a bit sweaty and tough."
A tad belatedly she adds: "My current chap is all that." Whoever he is, he's a lucky man.
British Soap Awards, ITV1, May 3. Voting reopens on April 28. See www.britishsoapawards.tv
adamleepotter@sundaymirror.co.uk
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