She is a three-time Olivier Award winner, and is best known to television audiences for her role as Lola Griffin in the medical drama Holby City, and as Grace O'Brien in Doctor Who.

Clarke is known for her role in the BBC medical drama Holby City, in which she played Lola Griffin, a doctor with ancestors from Ghana who first appeared in 2005.

[citation needed] On 10 August 2010, Clarke appeared in an episode of The Bill, "Death Knock" as brothel owner Denise Jones.

[citation needed] In October 2017, the BBC announced that Clarke had been cast as Grace O'Brien in the eleventh series of Doctor Who, appearing in the episodes "The Woman Who Fell To Earth", "Arachnids in the UK" and "It Takes You Away".

[citation needed] In December 2017, Clarke made a guest appearance on Thunderbirds Are Go, providing the voice for Fire Chief Cass McCready in the Season 2 episode "Inferno", which wasn't broadcast on ITV but was still shown on Amazon Video.

In the same year, she appeared as a guest on Ready Steady Cook, hosted by Ainsley Harriott, representing Holby City, winning with chef Garrey Dawson.

The Musical, the story of the Trench Town community's struggle for survival against the encroachment of Babylon, in the form of a new luxury hotel.

Her roles include General Cartwright in Guys and Dolls (1996), Joanne Jefferson in Rent at the Shaftesbury Theatre (1998), and Miss Sherman in Fame (1999).

[citation needed] Clarke was Davina the Diva Harp in Jack and the Beanstalk and Carmina the Camel in Aladdin, both at the Hackney Empire.

[citation needed] In October 2010, the Apollo Victoria Theatre, home to the musical Wicked, celebrated its 80th anniversary and Clarke was a guest performer[7] alongside other stars such as Wayne Sleep.

Beginning previews in March at the Manchester Opera House, the show transferred in June 2011 to the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre, replacing Grease.

[citation needed] She appeared in James Baldwin's The Amen Corner at the Royal National Theatre, for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the 2014 Olivier Awards.

[9] In the summer of 2014, she played the supporting role of Mariah in the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre production of Porgy and Bess.

[citation needed] In February 2016, she received critical acclaim for her role in a revival of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Lyttelton Theatre (for example: "Sharon D Clarke is terrific as Ma Rainey, regally imperious" – The Telegraph; "Her golden delivery of the title song is a high point" – The Observer; "Sharon D Clarke offers a wonderfully obstreperous performance as the eponymous blues star" – Time Out; "the powerhouse delivery of Sharon D Clarke in the central role of Ma Rainey is exhilarating" – The Stage).