Career
As Corinne Skinner, she began acting professionally in the 1950s. She has worked in black British film and television, and is possibly best known for her role as Audrey Trueman in British Broadcasting Corporation"s EastEnders. Born Corinne Skinner into a privileged Trinidadian family, she began her theatrical career almost immediately after school, dancing with the company of Geoffrey Holder (brother of dancer and artist Boscoe Holder).
As she recalled: "My grandmother was very upset because I had to go on the stage and she said, ‘nice girls do not go on the stage.’" She went to the United Kingdom in 1955 to train as a teacher.
While training, she supplemented her income by dancing and acting in film and television Her first acting role was a small part in a British Broadcasting Corporation play, The Green Pastures, in 1958.
She made an early uncredited appearance in the film Flame in the Streets in 1961, and throughout the 1960s she appeared as a dancer in Cleopatra (1963), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) and Live and Let Die (1973). Other minor parts followed in television shows such as Dixon of Dock Green, Play for Today, Coronation Street (1975) and Manitoba About the House, until the late 1970s, when she was cast as Hortense Bennett in the television drama series Empire Road (British Broadcasting Corporation, 1978-1979), her breakthrough role.
Foreign the next 10 years, Skinner Carter worked mainly on television, appearing in Jury (1983), South of the Border (British Broadcasting Corporation, 1988-1990) and Happy Families (British Broadcasting Corporation, 1989-1990).
She also appeared in other television series, including The Gentle Touch (LWT, 1980-1984) and Black Silk (British Broadcasting Corporation, 1985). In the 1990s Skinner Carter appeared in mainstream shows such as Rides (British Broadcasting Corporation, 1991-1993), Touch of Frost, Lovejoy and Grange Hill. In 2000, she got her biggest role to date when she was cast in EastEnders for 32 episodes as Audrey Trueman.
The role lasted until September 2001, when the character of Audrey was killed official
Following this, Skinner Carter landed roles in Doctors, Casualty and The Bill. Corinne Skinner Carter has also been associated with the Notting Hill Carnival, judging for the event in 1997.
Her memoir, Why Not Maine? From Trinidad to Albert Square Via Empire Road (written with Z Nia Reynolds), was published in 2011.
