Sharon D. Clarke

Sharon Delores Clarke MBE (born 12 August 1966) is a three-time Olivier Award winning English actress and singer. Best known to television audiences for her role as Lola Griffin in the medical drama Holby City, and as Grace O'Brien in Doctor Who. Clarke has also played lead roles in many West End musicals, and originated the roles of the Killer Queen in We Will Rock You and Oda Mae Brown in Ghost the Musical.

Sharon D. Clarke MBE
Clarke in Ghost, West End Live in 2011
Born	Sharon Delores Clarke 12 August 1966 Enfield, London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1986–
Spouse(s)	Susie McKenna

Throughout her stage career, Clarke has been nominated for several Laurence Olivier Awards. She won the 2014 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in James Baldwin's The Amen Corner. She won her second Oliver for best actress in a musical for her role as Caroline Thibodeaux in the 2018 West End production of Caroline, or Change, a role she's set to reprise on Broadway in 2021. In October 2020, she won her third Olivier for her role in the revival of Death of a Salesman at London's Young Vic.

Television career

Clarke is known for her role in the BBC medical drama Holby City, in which she played Lola Griffin, a doctor with ancestors from Ghana. She left the programme in 2008. Clarke reprised the role for one episode in 2019.

Other television roles include the character of Gran'Ma Flossie in the CBBC show The Crust. In 2008, Clarke sat alongside Russell Watson as a judge on the BBC talent show Last Choir Standing. Clarke's other TV credits include: Waking the Dead, Soldier Soldier, Broken Glass, Between the Lines, Children's Ward, Stop, Look & Listen – Mary Seacole, Past Caring, The Singing Detective, EastEnders, Boo! and Informer.

Clarke has also appeared as a guest on Ready Steady Cook, hosted by Ainsley Harriott, representing Holby City in 2008, winning with chef Garrey Dawson.

She has been a guest on The Paul O'Grady Show and sang the "O'Grady, O'Grady" song to celebrate the 500th show. She has also made appearances on Children in Need for the BBC, performing as Killer Queen with the cast of We Will Rock You and also singing with her Holby City co-stars.

On 10 August 2010, Clarke appeared in an episode of The Bill, "Death Knock" as brothel owner Denise Jones.

On 24 January 2011, she appeared in EastEnders, as Connor Stanley's mother Kendra. In May 2011, Clarke starred in the BBC drama The Shadow Line as Mrs. Dixon, appearing in episodes 2 and 3.

Clarke voices the character of Treetog in the CBeebies series Tree Fu Tom.[1]

In October 2017, the BBC announced that Clarke had been cast as Grace O'Brien in the eleventh series of Doctor Who, appearing in the episodes "The Woman Who Fell To Earth", "Arachnids in the UK" and "It Takes You Away". She later made brief cameo appearances in the twelfth series episode "Can You Hear Me?", and in the 2021 festive special "Revolution of the Daleks".

In December 2017, Clarke made a guest appearance on Thunderbirds Are Go, providing the voice for Fire Chief Cass McCready in the Season 2 episode Inferno, which wasn't broadcast on ITV but was still shown on Amazon Video.

Theatre

Clarke's first professional role was playing Dolores Hope in the 1988 Talawa Theatre Company production of O Babylon! The Musical, the story of the Trench Town community's struggle for survival against the encroachment of Babylon, in the form of a new luxury hotel.[2][3][4]

Clarke has also appeared in West End theatre. Her roles include General Cartwright in Guys and Dolls (1996), Joanne Jefferson in Rent at the Shaftesbury Theatre (1998), and Miss Sherman in Fame (1999). She played Rafiki in The Lion King from 2000 to 2002 at the Lyceum Theatre and in 2004 played the character of Matron Mama Morton in Chicago.

In 2000, Clarke appeared in Flymonkey's production of The Wiz. In that production, she played the role of Glinda at the Hackney Empire.

She originated the role of Killer Queen[5] in the Ben Elton/Queen jukebox musical We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre, alongside Alexander Hanson as Commander Khashoggi, for which she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical.

In 2008, Clarke made her pantomime début in the Hackney Empire's Mother Goose. She starred in Once on This Island in Birmingham at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. She was also set to star in The Vagina Monologues and Once on This Island at the Hackney Empire in 2009. She finished starring in the massively successful hit musical Hairspray when it closed on 28 March 2010 at the Shaftesbury Theatre. She played the role of Motormouth Maybelle, alongside Phill Jupitus and Brian Conley as Edna Turnblad.

Clarke was Davina the Diva Harp in Jack and the Beanstalk and Carmina the Camel in Aladdin, both at the Hackney Empire. In July 2010, she appeared in a one-off performance at the Hackney Empire called Sounds Like Hackney, alongside Clive Rowe.

Clarke made an appearance at Music on the Farm, held at Battlers Green Farm in aid of charity, singing hits from musicals that she has starred in.

In October 2010, the Apollo Victoria Theatre, home to the musical Wicked, celebrated its 80th anniversary and Clarke was a guest performer[6] alongside other stars such as Wayne Sleep.

2011 saw Clarke take the role of Oda Mae Brown in a musical adaptation of the film Ghost. Beginning previews in March at the Manchester Opera House, the show transferred in June 2011 to the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre, replacing Grease. Clarke was nominated in 2012 for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical,[7] losing out on the award to Nigel Harman for his role in Shrek the Musical.

In October 2011, she appeared in a concert of the new musical Soho Cinders at the Queen's Theatre, London. Clarke has also worked as Musical Director on Meridan.

Since finishing in Ghost The Musical upon its closure in 2012, Clarke has appeared in her own one-woman cabaret at the St James Theatre.

She appeared in James Baldwin's The Amen Corner at the Royal National Theatre, for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the 2014 Olivier Awards.[8]

In the summer of 2014, she played the supporting role of Mariah in the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre production of Porgy and Bess.

In March 2015, Clarke played the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.

In February 2016, she received critical acclaim for her role in a revival of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Lyttelton Theatre (for example: "Sharon D Clarke is terrific as Ma Rainey, regally imperious" – The Telegraph; "Her golden delivery of the title song is a high point" – The Observer; "Sharon D Clarke offers a wonderfully obstreperous performance as the eponymous blues star" – Time Out; "the powerhouse delivery of Sharon D Clarke in the central role of Ma Rainey is exhilarating" – The Stage).[9][10][11][12]

In 2017, she played the role of Sonya in Cy Coleman's musical The Life at Southwark Playhouse[13] and Caroline Thibodeaux in Caroline, or Change at the Chichester Festival Theatre.[14] Clarke reprised her role in Caroline, or Change when the production transferred to the Playhouse Theatre in the West End in 2018.[15] At the 2019 Laurence Olivier Awards, Clarke won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for this role.[16]

In 2019, she played the role of Linda Loman in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman at the Young Vic, due to transfer to the West End in October 2019. In July 2019 she played the role of The Lady in Sheldon Epps’s Blues In The Night at the Kiln Theatre, London.[17]

Music career

Clarke achieved chart success with the FPI Project's remake of Going Back to My Roots and in Nomad with the singles "(I Wanna Give You) Devotion" and "Just a Groove", the latter of which sold more than two million singles worldwide.

Clarke was also part of the female vocal group Six Chix, formed for the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. They came second in the UK selection with the song "Only the Women Know". They were beaten by Nicki French singing "Don't Play That Song Again", which went on to Stockholm to finish 16th.

As well as appearing on the original cast recordings for Once on This Island, Stepping Out, We Will Rock You and Ghost The Musical, Clarke recorded the title song on Terry Pratchett's Only You Can Save Mankind album alongside other West End stars, including Kerry Ellis, Ricardo Afonso and Daniel Boys.

Personal life

Clarke is married to writer and director Susie McKenna. They wed on the Hackney Empire stage.[18][19]

Clarke was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to drama.[20]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Tumbledown	1st Night Nurse	Television film
1996	Broken Glass	Flora	Television film
1999	Beautiful People	Nurse Tina
2000	Secret Society	Typhoon
2007	Sugarhouse	Crystal
2016	The Works	Macbeth	Short film
	The Darkest Universe	Megan
2018	Tau	Queenpin	Television film
2019	Rocketman	Counselor

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986, 2011	EastEnders	Lizzie Burton, Kendra Stanley	2 episodes
1990	The Singing Detective	Night Nurse	6 episodes
1993	Between the Lines	Cook	Episode: "Some Must Watch"
1995	Soldier Soldier	Receptionist	Episode: "For Better, for Worse"
2003, 2005–08, 2019	Holby City	June Singleton, Lola Griffin	112 episodes
2003	Waking the Dead	Camelia Baptiste	2 episodes
2004, 2007	Boo!	Narrator, Singer (voices)	11 episodes
2005	The Crust	Grandma Flossie
	Casualty@Holby City	Lola Griffin	3 episodes
	Casualty	Lola Griffin	Episode: "Deny Thy Father: Part 1"
2008	HolbyBlue	Lola Griffin	Episode: "Episode #2.1"
2010	The Bill	Denise Jones	Episode: "Death Knock"
2011	The Shadow Line	Mrs. Dixon	2 episodes
2012	Tree Fu Tom	(voice)	3 episodes
2013	Psychobitches	Nina Simone, Bessie Smith	2 episodes
	New Tricks	Sarah Kaye	2 episodes
2015	Death in Paradise	Zeta Akande	Episode: "Stab in the Dark"
	You, Me & Them	Nola	Episode: "The Gift"
	National Theatre Live	Mother	Episode: "Everyman"
2017	Unforgotten	Agency Manager	Episode: "Episode #2.5"
2017, 2019	Thunderbirds Are Go	Cass McCready (voice)	2 episodes
2018	Kiri	Bimpe	Episode: "Episode #1.2"
	Informer	DCI Rose Asante	6 episodes
	Doctors	Nyaqa Dale Setshwane	Episode: "Dreams Are Made On"
	Silent Witness	Senior Special Agent Kim Price	2 episodes
	Flowers	Dr. Malone	Episode: "Episode #2.5"
2018–21	Doctor Who	Grace O'Brien, Solitract	5 episodes
2019	Numberblocks	100	3 episodes
2020	Tiny Wonders	Narrator	10 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	World of Warcraft
2018	World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth

Awards and nominations

Stage

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1995	Laurence Olivier Award[21]	Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical	Once on This Island	Nominated
2003	Laurence Olivier Award[22]	Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical	We Will Rock You	Nominated
2012	Laurence Olivier Award[23]	Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical	Ghost	Nominated
2014	Laurence Olivier Award[8]	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	The Amen Corner	Won
2018	Off West End Theatre Award[24]	Supporting Female in a Musical	The Life	Won
	Evening Standard Theatre Award[25]	Best Musical Performance	Caroline, or Change	Nominated
2019	Laurence Olivier Award[16]	Best Actress in a Musical		Won
	Critics' Circle Theatre Award[26]	Best Actress	Death of a Salesman	Won
2020	Laurence Olivier Award[27]	Best Actress		Won

References

1. "Tree Fu Tom", BBC Media Centre.
2. "O Babylon! – BPA". www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
3. "O Babylon! The Musical". talawa.com. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
4. "Sharon D Clarke on Caroline, or Change and not repeating history". Evening Standard. 14 November 2018.
5. Andrew Tomlins, "Big Interview: Sharon D. Clarke", West End Frame, 9 March 2015.
6. Alistair Smith, "Apollo Victoria to reunite Starlight Express for 80th gala", The Stage, 12 August 2010.
7. "Olivier Awards: full list of nominations". The Telegraph. 15 March 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
8. "Olivier awards 2014: the winners – in pictures". The Guardian. 13 April 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
9. Dominic Cavendish, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, National Theatre, review: 'revelatory'", The Telegraph, 3 February 2016.
10. Susannah Clapp, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom review – a terrific August Wilson revival", The Observer, 7 February 2016.
11. Andrzej Lukowski, "An all-too timely revival of August Wilson's American classic, set at the dawn of the jazz age", Time Out, 3 February 2016.
12. Mark Shenton, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom review at the Lyttelton, National Theatre, London – 'superbly orchestrated'", The Stage, 2 February 2016.
13. "The Life, Southwark Playhouse, London, review: A crime if this show does not transfer to the West End". independent.co.uk. 1 April 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
14. "Exceptional revival of a powerful and innovative drama – Caroline, Or Change review" The Daily Telegraph. 12 May 2017
15. Shenton, Mark (18 December 2018). "Review – Sharon D Clarke is 'extraordinary' in Caroline, or Change at the Playhouse Theatre". londontheatre.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
16. Thompson, Jessie (7 April 2019). "Olivier Awards 2019 winners in full: The Inheritance, Company and Come From Away lead with a clutch of prizes". Evening Standard. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
17. "Musical review: Blues In The Night". Metro Newspaper UK.
18. "Spotlight On: Sharon D Clarke and Susie Mckenna". So So Gay. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
19. "Interviews: Sharon D Clarke: 'We were all rooting for Rufus'", What's on Stage, 18 December 2013.
20. "No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N16.
21. "Olivier Winners 1995". Olivier Awards. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
22. "Olivier Winners 2003". Olivier Awards. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
23. "Olivier Winners 2012". Olivier Awards. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
24. "Offies 2018 winners announced | WhatsOnStage". www.whatsonstage.com. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
25. "Read the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2018 shortlist in full". www.standard.co.uk. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
26. Thomas, Sophie (11 February 2020). "Andrew Scott, Juliet Stevenson and Sharon D. Clarke win at 2019 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards". London Theatre Guide. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
27. "Olivier Awards 2020 with Mastercard – Theatre's Biggest Night". Olivier Awards. Retrieved 3 December 2020.

External links

• Sharon D. Clarke at IMDb