Liz Carr (born 21st April 1975, in Babington, Merseyside) is an English actress, comedian and disability rights activist.
After many years of doing comedy work and co-hosting the disability-focused podcast Ouch! from 2006 to 2013, Carr branched out into acting both onstage and onscreen. She's best known for portraying forensic scientist Clarissa Mullery on long-running forensic drama Silent Witness, a role she played for eight years. Her other prominent roles include Fenn in The Witcher (2019) and Saraqael in Good Omens (2019).
Carr has arthrogryposis multiplex congenita and has used a wheelchair since she was seven. In addition to advocating for disability rights and awareness, Carr frequently incorporates her condition into her comedy routines and her acting roles. She's notably the first disabled person to portray Dr Emma Brookner in a 2021 production of The Normal Heart and won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance.
Filmography includes:
- Silent Witness (2013 - 2020) as Clarissa Mullery
- Les Miserables (2018) as Concierge
- The OA (2019) as Dr Marlow Rhodes
- Devs (2020) as Lecturer
- Infinite (2021) as Garrick
- The Witcher (2021, 2023) as Fenn
- Then Barbara Met Alan (2022) as Liz
- This Is Going To Hurt (2022) as Tina
- Good Omens (2023) as Saraqael
- Loki Season 2 (2023) as Judge Gamble
Tropes related to her roles:
- Actor-Inspired Element: In Good Omens, Saraqael wasn't written as disabled in the script, but after Carr was cast in the role due to her good comedy acting, Saraqael is depicted using a floating chair in Heaven and performing miracles to make places on Earth more wheelchair-accessible.
- The Danza: She plays a character named Liz in Then Barbara Met Alan.
- Deadpan Snarker: Some of her characters, particularly Saraqael and Clarissa, are depicted as having a very dry, snarky sense of humour.
- Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Applies to all of Carr's roles, as her condition requires her to use a wheelchair, meaning her characters always use wheelchairs too. Some of her characters are specifically written as disabled, while other roles were tweaked to incorporate Carr's disability after she was cast. In works set in the modern day she tends to use her own electric wheelchair, while as Fenn in Medieval European Fantasy The Witcher she's depicted with an old-fashioned-looking wooden chair, and as the angel Saraqael in Good Omens she's depicted with a futuristic-looking, divinely-powered floating chair.
- Typecasting: Ever since playing forensic scientist Clarissa in Silent Witness, Carr has a habit of being cast as scientists or similar characters, including a quantum physics lecturer in Devs, Dr Marlow Rhodes in The OA and Garrick in Infinite. Fenn in The Witcher isn't a scientist, though still intelligent and centered around research as a lawyer and private detective.
