Caroline Parker is an English actress, comedian and performer. She is deaf and a

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom and is the first or preferred language among the Deafness in the United Kingdom, deaf community in the UK. While private correspondence from William Stokoe hinted at a f ...

user.

Early life

Parker was born in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

to a hearing family. As a child, she enjoyed dance classes. After attending mainstream schools with Partially Hearing Units, she took part of an experimental teaching programme at

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, under which she received speech therapy. She attended Manchester Youth Theatre for three years and decided to pursue a career in theatre. She enrolled for a course on Foundation Drama and Theatre at a college in Salford. She was advised by her tutor to focus on mime. In 1982 Parker moved to London to train at Adam Darius' Mime Centre, followed by more training at Desmond Jones School of Mime.

Career

Parker landed her first acting job with Interim Theatre, quickly learning sign language to play Clarice in ''

The Servant of Two Masters ''The Servant of Two Masters'' () is a comedy by the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni written in 1746. Goldoni originally wrote the play at the request of actor Antonio Sacco, one of the great Harlequins in history. His earliest drafts had larg ...

'' which opened at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. She has extensively worked in theatre, most recently with such companies as Graeae Theatre, Red Earth, Fittings Multi Media Arts, Fingersmiths and Deafinitely Theatre. Parker was commissioned a one-woman show, ''Signs of a Star Shaped Diva'', by Theatre Royal Stratford East and The New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich. The show featured her signature sign songs and toured theatres around the UK. Parker has also performed her cabaret act, ''The Silent Diva'', bringing her sign songs at such festivals as Glastonbury, WOMAD and Liberty Festivals. She appears as a stand-up comedian under the name of Caro Sparks. As well as acting and performing, she delivers drama or sign songs workshop and has experience in direction. Parker has also made appearances on TV programmes such as ''My Hero'', ''Murphy's Law'' and as Sue in the BBC drama series ''

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

'', as well as in Louis Neethling's film ''Fairy Tale of London Town'' playing the role of Veronica. For her role in for Jean St Clair's film 'If I Don't Lose...', Parker won the Best Actress Award at the Clin d'Oeil Festival 2015. Parker was invited to perform at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games, signing ''I Am What I Am'' along with singers

Lizzie Emeh Lizzie Emeh (1977–2021) was a British people, British singer, songwriter, and disability rights activist. She could not talk until she was 4, but she created her own albums and performed at the 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony. Life Emeh was b ...

and

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English singer, songwriter, actress and radio personality. She released her first album, ''The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke ...

. Thousands joined in. She received an MBE in the

2012 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2012 were announced on 31 December 2011 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand,BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

soap opera ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' as prison guard Melanie Truman.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Caroline Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Actresses from Cheshire 21st-century English actresses 21st-century English comedians English women comedians English deaf people British deaf actresses BSL users Comedians from Cheshire