Sharon D. Clarke
Sharon D. Clarke is an actor, born 1966.
Theatre is the home address. Sharon D. Clarke is an English actress and singer with three Olivier Awards and a long list of West End leads, and she originated two roles that performers have been chasing ever since: the Killer Queen in We Will Rock You and Oda Mae Brown in Ghost the Musical. A pop career ran alongside it, singing with Nomad and on FPI Project's remake of Going Back to My Roots.
The instrument explains the casting. She has a trained singer's control and a low, unhurried authority, so British television has spent decades handing her people who are in charge: Lola Griffin across a long run on Holby City, Grace O'Brien in Doctor Who, and now the title role in Ellis (2024), where she leads a detective series outright. Her earliest credit here, a night nurse in The Singing Detective, shows how far back the run goes.
Film caught up late and in small doses. She is the AA counsellor who anchors one of the better scenes in Rocketman, Anita in Rocks (2020), the Prime Minister in Red, White & Royal Blue, a captain in Havoc, and the voice of Dulcibear in both Wicked films. Castlevania: Nocturne uses her for Cecile Fatiman.
None of that is the work she would be remembered for if theatre left recordings behind. The stage record is the career; the screen record is the part of it that happens to be visible.
Movies (8)
TV (9)
Where to start with Sharon D. Clarke
Ellis is the current answer: a detective series built around her, and the first thing on this list where the camera treats her as the lead she has been on stage for years. Holby City is the long-running role most British viewers know her from, and it rewards dipping in rather than starting at episode one.
For film, Rocks is the best thing here by some distance, a warm and unsentimental London story that gives her a character rather than a function. Rocketman is one scene done perfectly. Castlevania: Nocturne is the showcase for the voice, and Red, White & Royal Blue is the light option.
If you want the beginning, The Singing Detective has her in a small part in one of the great pieces of British television.