Doña Croll (born 29 August 1953) is a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

n-born British actress. She is best known for her roles in British television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

playing Pearl McHugh in Channel 5's ''

Family Affairs ''Family Affairs'' is a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per w ...

'', Vera Corrigan in the BBC Vera Corrigan '' Doctors'', and as Emerald Fox in '' EastEnders''. She also played the regular role of nurse Adele Beckford in series 8 of Casualty (1993 to 1994). An experienced stage actress, Croll is known most notably as playing the first black

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. ...

on the British Stage in Talawa Theatre Company's production of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

Antony and Cleopatra ''Antony and Cleopatra'' ( First Folio title: ''The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was first performed, by the King's Men, at either the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre in arou ...

'' in 1991. In 2013, Croll returned to the stage with Talawa Theatre Company to play the part of Kate Keller in their production of

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' (19 ...

's ''

All My Sons ''All My Sons'' is a three-act play written in 1946 by Arthur Miller. It opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1949, and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan (t ...

'', starring alongside

Don Warrington Don Warrington MBE (born Donald Williams, 23 May 1951) is a Trinidadian-born British actor. He is best known for playing Philip Smith in the ITV sitcom '' Rising Damp'' (1974–78), and Commissioner Selwyn Patterson in the BBC detective ser ...

. Croll received good notices for her portrayal. ''All My Sons'' was revived by Talawa Theatre Company in 2015, and Croll reprised her role of Kate Keller, again receiving good notices for her portrayal of "a woman clutching desperately at shredded delusions".

Early life

Born in Patty Hill,

Hanover, Jamaica Hanover is a parish located on the northwestern tip of the island of Jamaica. It is a part of the county of Cornwall, bordered by St. James in the east and Westmoreland in the south. With the exception of Kingston, it is the smallest parish ...

, to parents who are both preachers, Doña Croll moved to the UK at the age of five.

Career

From 1999 to 2002, Croll played Pearl McHugh in the Channel 5 soap opera ''

''. From September 1993 to February 1994, she appeared in the eighth series of

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

's '' Casualty'', playing staff nurse Adele Beckford. She also appeared in all three series of BBC

sitcom A sitcom, a Portmanteau, portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troup ...

'' Gimme Gimme Gimme'' as Tom's agent, Norma, and in the film '' Manderlay''. Other roles include Catherine Cooper in ITV's ''

William and Mary William and Mary often refers to: * The joint reign of William III of England (II of Scotland) and Mary II of England (and Scotland) * William and Mary style, a furniture design common from 1700 to 1725 named for the couple William and Mary may ...

'' and Matron Casp in the '' Doctor Who'' episode " New Earth". Croll also starred in

Kwame Kwei-Armah Kwame Kwei-Armah (born Ian Roberts; 24 March 1967 in Hillingdon, London) is a British actor, playwright, director, singer and broadcaster. He is best known for playing paramedic Finlay Newton in the BBC medical drama '' Casualty'' from 1999 un ...

's 2003 play '' Elmina's Kitchen'', which premiered at the National Theatre,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and appeared in the West End production of ''

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot ''The Last Days of Judas Iscariot'' is a play by American playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis first staged Off-Broadway at The Public Theater on March 2, 2005, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Plot summary ''The Last Days of Judas Iscariot'' tel ...

''. In June 2007, she appeared as Mary Maudlin in Oladipo Agboluaje's

Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

play, ''The Christ of Coldharbour Lane''. Croll has had four roles in '' EastEnders'': a nurse treating

Angie Watts Angie Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Anita Dobson from the first episode of the series until 1988, when Dobson decided to leave, and the character was written out. Angie is well known for h ...

in 1988; a glamorous bar worker comforting

Frank Butcher Frank Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Mike Reid. Frank makes his first appearance on-screen as a guest character in 1987, but due to a positive viewer reception, he is reintroduced in 1988 as ...

around Christmas 1991; two episodes as Joy Lucas in 2006; and Emerald Fox in 2017. In the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'', she played Vera Corrigan from 2007 to 2010. In April 2011, Croll returned to ''Casualty'' in the one-episode guest role of nurse Rachel Culley. In 2012, Croll appeared as Juanita in the original Royal Shakespeare Company production of

Helen Edmundson Helen Edmundson (born 1964) is a British people, British playwright, screenwriter and Television producer, producer. She has won awards and critical acclaim both for her original writing and for her adaptations of various literary classics for t ...

's play '' The Heresy of Love''. Croll is the voice of Leopard in the children's television series '' Tinga Tinga Tales''. In 2013 she appeared as Rachel in all three episodes of the ITV drama '' The Ice Cream Girls''. That year she also appeared in '' Tula: The Revolt''. In that same year, she also guest starred in '' Dani's Castle'' in episode "Aunt Marjorie". Also in 2013, Croll played Kate Keller in the Talawa Theatre Company production of

's ''

'', repriding the role in the 2015 remount which also toured the UK. In 2018, Croll played Old July in the BBC production of Andrea Levy's '' The Long Song''.Griffiths, Eleanor Bley (13 December 2018)
"Meet the cast of BBC1 drama The Long Song"
''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

''. She played Eleanor Beaumont in '' Death in Paradise'' S9:E7 (2020).

References

External links

* * Sophia A. Jackson
"Afridiziak Theatre News Interview with Doña Croll"
15 May 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Croll, Dona 1953 births Living people British voice actresses British soap opera actresses Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom Black British actresses 20th-century British actresses 21st-century British actresses British television actresses