“I want people to really see me!”

Ellie Leach wants to be known as herself rather than her ‘Coronation Street’ character.

The 22-year-old actress left her role as Faye Windass earlier this year after spending more than a decade on the ITV1 soap and hopes her time on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ will help viewers get to know her as a person .

She told Hello Magazine: “People saw me growing up on ‘Corrie’ and might still think I’m still that schoolgirl, but I hope people see I’m an adult now. I want people to see me know for me rather than a character I’ve always wanted to do ‘Strictly’, so I was over the moon and so shocked that it happened so soon after leaving ‘Corrie’.

Ellie – whose soap character became the youngest parent in the show’s history when she gave birth to baby Miley just weeks after her 13th birthday in 2015 – later revealed that her former co-stars who also taking part in ‘Strictly’ had given her advice, but admitted taking part in the BBC Latin and ballroom competition is “scary” as it’s all live and therefore “completely different” to anything she has done in the past.

She said: “Kym (Marsh) told me, ‘You’ll have the best time and you’ll have fun.’ A lot of previous contestants said it was over in a blink of an eye.

“The live (television) aspect really scares me because it’s completely different to anything I’ve done before. On ‘Corrie,’ we’re told to ignore the cameras and pretend they’re not there. weren’t there, but on ‘Strictly’ you have to perform for them, but I’m excited to get out of my comfort zone.”