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Rob Mallard quickly became a fan-favourite when he made his Coronation Street debut in 2016.
Best known for his role as Daniel Osbourne in the ITV soap, Rob also briefly appeared in Emmerdale back in 2015 as Connor Jennsen, and in Channel 4 comedy Fresh Meat the year after.
The actor has won numerous awards, including Best Newcomer at The British Soap Awards in 2017 and Best Performance in a Continuing Drama at the RTS North West Awards in 2019.
From his brief but cosy relationship with co-star Daniel Brocklebank to his candid admissions about his own health, Rob might keep much of his life private – but he does let fans in on certain aspects.
As the life of his character takes a very abrupt turn with his job as a teacher at risk, Daily Star has taken a look at his time off-screen and away from the Cobbles.
Co-star ex
Rob publicly came out as gay during an interview with Gay Times back in 2017.
But he was out long before then to his family, as he "never planned to keep [his sexuality] quiet", and told them at the age of 17.
Rob said his only concern at the time was the believability factor of his on-screen romances being with women, as his Corrie character Daniel married Sinead Tinker back in 2019 before her tragic death.
"If I’m with a female character, will an audience who knows I’m gay in real life believe it?" he wondered. "But that was just my own fears because I do believe they will."
Speaking of how he told his family, Rob elaborated: "I was very fortunate, I had a very non-plussed family and it's become the subject of warm, friendly general humour over the years."
He began dating co-star Daniel Brocklebank, who plays vicar Billy Mayhew on the cobbles, in May 2017.
The star opened up about Daniel when he scooped his British Soap Award, gushing in his acceptance speech: "Even though this is fantastic, Dan, you’re the best thing I’ve ever taken home."
But just two months later, the pair split due to the pressure of working together while attempting to maintain a romantic relationship.
They remain solid friends.
Rob went on to date Ben Perryman, but the couple split in 2019, confirming in January 2020 that things had reached their "natural end".
He is currently thought to be single, and was living alone during lockdown.
Health fears
Rob has an essential tremor – a neurological condition that causes involuntary shaking.
He has opened up in the past about the difficulty he has filming close-ups due to the trembling, commenting: "The hardest scenes for me to film technically are the close-ups when I’m holding a phone.
"I’ve got a tremor, so I have to try and camouflage it on set. I make a point of using as many props as I can, so I can get used to it," he said.
He bravely opened up about his condition on This Morning back in 2019, after viewers noticed him shaking.
"My solution has been to hide and manage," he told the hosts. "Because of the job that I’m in, it can have a detrimental effect on my ability to get cast.
"And then it was exposed on TV," the star admitted. "I was embarrassed and then angry. But then I started getting messages saying ‘Me too’."
Awkward on-set moments
Rob has admitted his co-star and on-screen wife Katie McGlynn, who played Sinead in Corrie, didn’t quite warm up to him at first.
The actor admitted he was "too over familiar" with Katie when the pair first met.
"She didn’t warm to me, shall we put it that way," he said. "I think I was too over familiar with her, but once we did click, once she realised that I wasn’t an absolute tool, we got that click moment and we’ve been mates like that ever since."
And the pair remain fast friends, with Katie sharing pics of their reunion last year as they celebrated her birthday together.
"When you get whiplash from Mcglynnfest… you know you’ve had a good time," she captioned the photoshoot.
Katie looked stunning in a black dress emblazoned with red roses, daringly slashed to the hip to bare an expanse of toned leg.
Rob, meanwhile, had opted for a red shirt worn over a black tank top that clung to his muscular chest.
Soap dreams – and rejections
It turns out Rob always had his sights set on a Corrie career.
Ever since he was a boy, he dreamed of taking up a role on the cobbles, and when he was officially cast, he said: "It feels great to be starting work on Coronation Street and I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone.
"I grew up watching Coronation Street, so the chance to be in it, especially playing a part like Daniel, is very exciting."
But he opened up about being constantly rejected from another soap before scoring his Corrie role.
"I think I auditioned for Hollyoaks nine times over about four or five years,” he told David Morrissey on his podcast Who Am I This Time?
"That one was the only one that I got to the point where I was going ‘I’m not going back again. I’m not doing it.’
"My agent was like 'They obviously like you, they're just trying to find somewhere to put you in the show.' But nine times… I did get to the point where I was going, 'I'm not getting on that bus to Liverpool again.’"
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And when he officially landed his role on the cobbles, his agent left him a cheeky voicemail which said: "Who’s a clever boy, then?"
"If you can imagine being eight years old and it being Christmas, [your] birthday and you were going to Disneyland all on the same day, it would be sort of like that!" he laughed. "I don't think I slept very much the night before, it was like first day of school."
- ITV
- Coronation Street
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