Barbara Assoon


Barbara Assoon was a Trinidadian actress and journalist who had been one of her country's public personalities for six decades.

Biography

Barbara Assoon was born in the Trinidad capital, Port of Spain, and began her acting career in the mid-1940s. In 1948 she had a role in a production of Peter Ustinov's play The Indifferent Shepherd, and the following year received a scholarship to study acting in England, choosing the Bristol Old Vic school. Assoon spent the next 19 years in Britain and appeared in numerous radio, television and stage productions. She performed in many radio soap operas as well as live TV dramas during the 1950s. In 1958, she played Rosa in Errol John's play Moon on a Rainbow Shawl at the Royal Court Theatre.
In 1968 Barbara Assoon returned to Trinidad to work with Radio Trinidad as a news reporter and program presenter. She spent the following decades as a broadcasting presenter. Her last appearance in a stage play was in 1990, with Derek Walcott. She has since retired, but still remains active in training the next generation of journalists.