Emmerdale star Sophie Powles welcomes her first child with partner Mark Waters

Emmerdale star Sophie Powles has welcomed her first baby with her partner Mark Waters.

Emmerdale's Sophie Powles has given birth to her first child with her partner Mark Waters.

The actress, who played Holly Barton in the popular ITV soap from 2009-2012, has become a mother for the first time as she announced the arrival of her newborn baby daughter.

Sophie shared a glimpse of her new arrival to fans on her Instagram in which she uploaded a snap of the baby's tiny feet and captioned it, 'Nearly a month ago our little girl joined us. Marli Ocean Waters you are Magic. Photo by dad @markwatersfilm'

As Sophie points out, she gave birth to Marli a month ago and shared her unusual baby name on social media.

And both friends and fans are overjoyed with Emmerdale's Sophie Powles' lovely news.

Actress Shobna Gulati wrote, 'I love this you are magic mummy' while singer Pixie Lott posted a series of love heart emojis.

A fan wrote, 'Wow amazing name ❤️ amazing mama'

Another fan commented, 'Congratulations'

Meanwhile, a third fan put, 'Huge congratulations to you and Mark. And welcome little Marli!!'

Sophie first revealed she was pregnant back in June when she revealed a snap of her growing baby bump on a beach, she captioned it simply, 'And so the adventures of us three begin.'

Mark also announced to his followers that he had become a first-time dad, he uploaded the same snap and sweetly captioned it, 'Marli Ocean Waters, I can’t believe I get to be your dad:) I will spend the rest of my life, showing you how much I love you❤️ Your Mum is pretty cool too.'

Sophie, now aged 32, first landed her role in the soap when she was just a teenager and after leaving in 2012, she made a brief return to Emmerdale before quitting once more. Emmerdale Tours are now available for fans to visit the set.

Emmerdale's Sophie Powles other TV credits include Holby City and she has just produced a short documentary called Tictoc.

She recently opened up during lockdown on her struggles at finding acting work. In an honest post, she wrote, 'Bye @highmoodfood. I moved to London a few years ago to further pursue my acting career.

'Alongside various odd acting jobs the truth is I have spent most of my time working in a health food cafe. It felt like defeat. It felt like failure.

'Eventually I realised the lessons I was learning. To just find happiness in the everyday and the people you have around you.

'To be grateful for just simply waking up and being healthy. Breaking the Habit I had of thinking I will be happy when I get that acting job or that audition.

'To know that the depression and anxiety I continue to fight is only temporary.

'It’s so hard to even get an audition or email answered never mind an actual job.'

She concluded, 'But I have had the pleasure of working for @Ursel barnes who is the most inspiring woman and meet the most amazing people.

'I’m not going to lie I have definitely had a little cry when washing dishes, mopping a floor or been spoken to like crap by a customer or asked why I don’t just get an acting job? (As if I don’t think about that every day!)

'But most of the time I have been laughing and I am so very grateful. 🙌🏻.'

And Sophie is now going to have so much fun being a mum! Congratulations!