Barbara Assoon
Encyclopedia
Barbara Assoon is a Trinidadian
actress and journalist
who has been one of her country's public personalities for six decades.
Barbara Assoon was born in the Caribbean
island nation's capital, Port of Spain
, and began her acting career in the mid-1940s. In 1948 she had a role in a production of Peter Ustinov
's play The Indifferent Shepherd, and the following year received a scholarship to study acting in England
and spent the next 19 years there, appearing in numerous radio, television and stage productions. She performed in scores of radio soap operas as well as live TV dramas during the 1950s.
In 1968 Barbara Assoon returned to Trinidad to work with Radio Trinidad
as a news reporter and program presenter. Noted for her excellent command of the English language, reading and presentation skills, she spent the following decades as a broadcasting presenter. Her last appearance in a stage play was in 1990, with Derek Walcott
. She has since retired, but still remains active in training the next generation of journalists.
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
actress and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who has been one of her country's public personalities for six decades.
Barbara Assoon was born in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island nation's capital, Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
, and began her acting career in the mid-1940s. In 1948 she had a role in a production of Peter Ustinov
Peter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
's play The Indifferent Shepherd, and the following year received a scholarship to study acting in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and spent the next 19 years there, appearing in numerous radio, television and stage productions. She performed in scores of radio soap operas as well as live TV dramas during the 1950s.
In 1968 Barbara Assoon returned to Trinidad to work with Radio Trinidad
Radio Trinidad
Radio Trinidad is the oldest radio station in Trinidad and Tobago. It started broadcasting in 1947 at 11 Maraval Road in Port of Spain on the frequency 730 AM. It had programs like soap operas, news, and passing parade...
as a news reporter and program presenter. Noted for her excellent command of the English language, reading and presentation skills, she spent the following decades as a broadcasting presenter. Her last appearance in a stage play was in 1990, with Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott
Derek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
. She has since retired, but still remains active in training the next generation of journalists.