Ruxandra Porojnicu used her own experiences to prepare for her 'Coronation Street' role.
Ruxandra Porojnicu (c) https://www.instagram.com/ruxandraporojnicu
The actress plays Alina Pop - who has been trafficked from Eastern Europe - on the cobbles, and she explained how there were parallels with her own life when she moved to the UK "with big dreams".
Appearing on ITV's 'Lorraine' on Tuesday (23.07.19), she said: "I just wanted to work, work for a better future and earn money, that's it. So I was a bit naive, I wouldn't think, 'Oh I need to sign a contract, I need to know about those people more'.
"So at the beginning at least, I kind of got back to what I lived before and my experience, but after that I was doing lots of research, looking at documentaries.
"And also in my first day at 'Corrie', we had a meeting with the Salvation Army and with a victim of modern slavery, and they helped me so much giving me more information and more details, and hearing everything about someone that was actually in this situation."
Ruxandra explained she arrived in the country with just £300 in her pocket, and she ended up working on a construction site.
She added: "When I came here, the first week, a friend of mine told me, 'Come here, I'm going to find you a job'.
"So I started to work five days on a construction site. I was cleaning and all that, without contract, without [anything].
"At least they didn't take my passport, I think my family would know to be careful with that. My family knew about what can happen, so I was lucky with that, my family was informed. But at the same time, I just took a chance and I just went, 'Yeah, it's a job, I'm going.' "