Crystal Clarke


Crystal Clarke is an American actress. She is best known for her role in the BBC/Amazon Prime mini-series Ordeal by Innocence. Clarke portrays Miss Lambe in the television adaptation of the Jane Austen novel Sanditon, produced by ITV and PBS.

Life and career

Clarke was born and raised in Essex County, New Jersey to Caribbean parents; her mother is from Trinidad and her father is from Guyana. She has one older brother. Clarke spent part of her childhood in Tennessee. She made the decision to leave the United States to pursue acting because she felt her race and class put her at a disadvantage. Clarke moved to Glasgow to attend the Royal Conservatoire and graduated in 2014.
Her London theatre debut was in the role of Hester Worsley in Dominic Dromgoole's revival of A Woman of No Importance. Clarke had supporting roles in two Star Wars films: and . She and Lupita Nyong'o were the first two black actresses to appear in a Star Wars film together when they both were cast in Episode VII. Clarke has also acted in Black Mirror.
She played Tina Argyll in the 2018 mini-series adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ordeal by Innocence. In 2019 she played Georgiana Lambe in the PBS/ITV adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Sanditon. Lambe is the only black character written by Austen.