Karen Louise Blick was born on 25 October 1974 in
Leeds,
West Yorkshire. She began her acting career in 2006, portraying a teacher in the
Channel 4 comedy series
No Angels and appeared in the
ITV soap opera
Emmerdale as a nurse at an abortion clinic attended by
Viv Hope (
Deena Payne). The following year, after struggling find acting work in what Blick described as a "precarious business", she trained as a teacher and began teaching drama at secondary schools, before working at her old sixth form college in
Halifax. Blick said she did not initially disclose her career as an actress, not wanting to be seen as "deluded". In 2011, Blick married her husband Simon, having been together 15 years. They have a son and a daughter. In 2015, she appeared as Sandra in the comedy series
Nomads. In 2016, Blick joined the cast of
Emmerdale as
Lydia Hart, who first appeared as the leader of a bereavement support group that
Jimmy King (
Nick Miles) attends by mistake. Her character's storylines on the show have since included the discovery of her past as someone who gave birth to a stillborn baby that she buried, her marriage to
Sam Dingle (
James Hooton), being diagnosed with
Huntington's disease and being the victim of rape by
Craig Reed (
Ben Addis). Blick has made appearances on ''
Big Star's Little Star alongside her daughter Ruby, Good Evening Britain, Lorraine, Loose Women and The Big Quiz. She also appeared in the short film Treasure'' in 2022. ==Filmography==