Caroline Sheen

Caroline Sheen, born on 7 January 1976 in South Wales, is a Welsh actress whose work spans musical theatre, television, and film. A cousin of actor Michael Sheen, she is married to actor Michael Jibson. Sheen trained at the Guildford School of Acting, graduating with a first-class B.A. Honours degree, and later became an Honorary Fellow of the University of South Wales. Her early theatrical involvement included membership in both the National Youth Theatre of Wales and Gwent Young People's Theatre. In 2018, she was named an Associate Artist of the Watermill Theatre.

Sheen's West End career began with the role of Marty in Grease at the Cambridge Theatre. She subsequently played Florinda in Into the Woods at the Donmar Warehouse before joining the original cast of Mamma Mia! at the Prince Edward Theatre, where she understudied the lead role of Sophie. At the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, she created the role of Jennifer Gabriel in the world premiere of The Witches of Eastwick. Further West End credits include Eponine in Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre, Sandy in Grease at the Victoria Palace, and Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium. Her work at the National Theatre includes Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Susan Walker in Once in a Lifetime. She also stepped in at short notice to cover the roles of Alaura and Carla in the Donmar Warehouse production of City of Angels, and played Woman 2 in the London premiere of Stephen Sondheim's Putting It Together at the St James Theatre. In 2019, Sheen created the role of Violet Newstead in the West End premiere of 9 to 5 at the Savoy Theatre, a credit she reprised on the London cast recording released in 2020. In 2024, she returned to the Savoy Theatre as a standby to Sarah Jessica Parker in Neil Simon's Plaza Suite.

Sheen first played Mary Poppins in the Cameron Mackintosh and Disney UK Tour of the production, then reprised the title role on the US National Tour, for which she received a Helen Hayes Award. Her Broadway appearance came in 2009, when she performed in Mary Poppins. She also created the role of Clara Johnson in the European premiere of The Light in the Piazza at Curve Theatre in Leicester. Additional stage work includes leading roles in Crazy for You and Under Milk Wood at the Watermill Theatre, Lilli and Kate in Kiss Me Kate at Kilworth House, and Fantine in Les Misérables at the Queens Theatre. During the 2020 pandemic, Sheen and her husband Jibson performed opposite each other as Guinevere and Arthur in an outdoor production of Camelot at the Watermill Theatre.

In concert, Sheen served as a guest soloist at the opening ceremony of the Wales Millennium Centre and has performed at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, in Night of a Thousand Voices, and the Royal Opera House, in Michael Ball and Friends. She appeared alongside fellow Mary Poppins actresses Lisa O'Hare and Scarlett Strallen in A Spoonful of Stiles and Drewe, performing a specially devised version of Practically Perfect. Other solo concert appearances include An Evening with Jason Robert Brown and Georgia Stitt and Friends. On 9 February 2020, she interviewed Stephen Schwartz at the JW3 in London.

Sheen released her debut solo album, Raise the Curtain, in February 2010. The recording features songs by contemporary British and American musical theatre writers, including five previously unrecorded songs, among them a cut song from The Witches of Eastwick, alongside material from The Light in the Piazza, Just So, Grey Gardens, and Mary Poppins. She also appears on the original cast recordings of Mamma Mia! and The Witches of Eastwick, on Rosemary Ashe's album Serious Cabaret, and on A Spoonful of Stiles and Drewe. In 2016, she featured on BEFORE AFTER, a recording of a new musical made with Hadley Fraser.

Her television credits include Hotel Babylon, Doctors, Torchwood, and the role of Queen Elizabeth of York in the Channel 4 documentary Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant. In 2018, she appeared in episodes of Press and The Rook, and took the lead role of Carys in the BBC series Pitching In. She appeared as DI Meredith Hughes in Silent Witness in 2021, as Claire in series four of Ghosts in 2022, and in 2023 played the recurring guest role of Beverly Munroe in Doctors as well as appearing in Sister Boniface Mysteries. Her film work includes Les Misérables (2012), Nativity Rocks, and Four Kids and It (2020).