Carmen Munroe OBE is a British actress, born in Berbice, Guyana. Since the early fifties she has been a resident of the UK where she has played an instrumental role in the development of black British theatre and representation on small screen. She has had high profile roles on TV in The Fosters (1976-77), Mixed Blessings (1978-80) both on ITV and on stage in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Alice Childress's Trouble in Mind and James Baldwin's The Amen Corner.

She is however best known for her role as Shirley, the wife of eponymous barber in the British sitcom Desmond's (1989 to 1994), written by Trix Worrell.

Some of her other roles include a part in the 1967 Doctor Who story The Enemy of the World; a part in General Hospital; and she was for a time a presenter of Play School.

She 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 2005/06 she acted in a series of three African American plays at the Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn. The plays were Walk Hard written by Abram Hill and directed by Nicholas Kent, followed by Gem of the Ocean written by August Wilson and directed by Paulette Randall where she acted in the role of Aunt Esther Tyler and finally Lynn Nottage's Fabulation, directed by Indhu Rubasingham.

She was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2007 Queen Elizabeth's Birthday Honors List for her services to drama.