12 Facts About Carmen Munroe

Dame Carmen Esme Munroe was born on 12 November 1932 and is a British actress who was born in Berbice, British Guiana, and has been a resident of the UK since the early 1950s.

Carmen Munroe has had high-profile roles on stage and television, perhaps best known from the British TV sitcom Desmond's as Shirley, wife of the eponymous barber played by Norman Beaton.

Carmen Munroe Esme Steele was born in New Amsterdam, Berbice, British Guiana, one of nine children.

Carmen Munroe's mother Maude was a piano teacher and her father worked as a pharmacist who travelled around the colony to work.

Carmen Munroe emigrated to Britain in 1951, with her mother and sister Jeune, following her sister Daphne.

Carmen Munroe first appeared on the West End stage in 1962 at Wyndham's Theatre in Tennessee Williams's Period of Adjustment, and had leading roles in later West End productions, such as Alun Owen's There'll Be Some Changes Made, Jean Genet's The Blacks, and as Orinthia in George Bernard Shaw's The Apple Cart.

Carmen Munroe acted in such plays as Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Alice Childress's Trouble in Mind and James Baldwin's The Amen Corner.

Carmen Munroe directed James Saunders' play Alas, Poor Fred for the Umoja Theatre and Remembrance by Derek Walcott at London's Arts Theatre in 1987.

Carmen Munroe became best known for her regular appearances between 1989 and 1994 in the Channel 4 sitcom Desmond's as Shirley, wife of the eponymous barber Desmond Ambrose, played by Norman Beaton.

Carmen Munroe is one of the founders of Talawa, the UK's leading black theatre company, which she established in 1985 together with Mona Hammond, Inigo Espegel and Yvonne Brewster.

In 1992, Carmen Munroe "gave an outstanding performance as Essie Robeson in a BBC play called A Song at Twilight".

Carmen Munroe was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 Birthday Honours and Dame Commander of the British Empire in the 2025 New Year Honours, both for services to drama.