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Karol was born in Folkestone in Kent, to Henry 'Mick' Ryan, a well-known local cricketer and footballer, and Elsie Howard, a former London beauty queen and Regimental Sergeant Major in the Woman's Army. She was educated at the Folkestone Technical High School for Girls (now the Girls' Grammar School), South Kent College in Ashford, and is a graduate in Mathematics from the University of Kent.
Karol's entry into the world of acting in 2005 as Anne Scarlett in 'Hood The Musical' for the Blackfish Theatre Company, she describes as her "mid-life crisis". Some of her early theatre credits include 'Alice The Musical', 'Talking Heads 1 and 2', 'Jack and Beanstalk', 'Dick Whittington', '2000 Years of History', and 'Scrooge'. During the 2009 Christmas pantomime season she was one of the Front of House pirates at the Marlowe Arena for the Evolution Productions pantomime Peter Pan starring Adrian Edmonson. 2013 saw Karol return to the theatre when she took on two lead roles; the first was Lady Fortesque in A New Year's Eve Murder Mystery in Whitstable for The Short Theatre Company. The second was as Nurse Ratched in 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' at the Marlowe Theatre for the Back of House Theatre Company. The following year she played Mrs Samsa in 'Metamorphosis' at the same theatre once again for Back of House, as well as putting on her dancing shoes as one of the principal dancers in a production of 'Jesus Christ, Superstar'. In 2015 she took on the role of the Wicked Stepmother for Big Foot Ents in the pantomime, 'Cinderella', stepping into the original actresses shoes just four weeks before opening night!
Karol's first foray into motion pictures was in 2006, when she answered a advert in her local paper asking for extras to work on 'The Other Boleyn Girl' at Dover Castle. Since then she has worked in several feature films and short films, including the musicals 'Les Miserables' where she had a featured role during the factory scenes, 'The Muppets Again', 'Into the Woods', 'Suffragette', 'Alice Through the looking Glass' (a featured role, which, sadly, ended up on the cutting room floor), 'Spectre', and 'Star Wars - The Force Awakens'.
During the summer of 2011 she worked on her son's directorial and writing feature film debut, 'Merry Z-Day', in which she starred as Beth. Karol has also been the star of two major prize-winning internet productions. The first was the pilot for a new web TV series called 'Second Choice'; and the second on a short film/documentary made by Viola Films to commemorate the 100th anniversary of WW1 called 'Time Bleeds'. She has also worked with two young, up-and-coming directors, Faisal Tannir and Max Hilton on a number of prize-winning short films, 'Flow', 'Samaritan', 'Scarlett's Wake', 'Her Mind Cries' and 'The Housemate'. She was also involved in the Children's BAFTA-winning production, 'Refugee' for True Tube.
Karol has worked on several TV series including 'Southcliffe', 'The Tunnel', 'Edge of Heaven', Close to the Enemy', 'Wolf Hall', and 'Hetty Feather'- all of which were shot in her home county of Kent - as well as the award winning 'Don't Take My 'Baby' and 'The Outcast' (a featured role as one of the Jazz Nightclub dancers).
Karol attended acting and singing workshops at the Blackfish Academy in Dover, and has training in several different dance styles.
