She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School and attended Catholic University of America after enlisting in the United States Army as a civilian actress technician.

Her television roles in the 1980s included newspaper owner Hope Stinson on the syndicated The Ted Knight Show (formerly Too Close for Comfort) during its final season in 1986, and Gussie Holt, the mother of Suzanne Somers's lead character in the syndicated sitcom She's the Sheriff (1987–1989).

[citation needed] Starting in the late 1980s, Carroll took several voice-over roles for cartoons,[10] including A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Galaxy High, Foofur, and the film A Goofy Movie.

In 1989, Carroll portrayed the sea witch Ursula in Disney's The Little Mermaid and sang "Poor Unfortunate Souls".

[1] A member of the Actors Studio, she also enjoyed a successful career in the theater, appearing in numerous plays including productions of Our Town and Sophocles's Electra.

[13][14] In 1990, she starred in The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger in the role of Sir John Falstaff, a balding knight with whiskers.

Ms. Carroll and Mr. Kahn help revivify the argument that the right actresses can perform some of the great classic roles traditionally denied to women and make them their own.

But what separates Ms. Carroll's Falstaff from some other similar casting experiments of late is that her performance exists to investigate a character rather than merely as ideological window dressing for a gimmicky production.

[16] Carroll, a practicing Roman Catholic, cited that her religious views helped her to determine what projects to accept.

[19] Several sources claimed the change had occurred as a result of sponsor conflict with Carroll's work on Make Room for Daddy.