Don Warrington trained at The Drama Centre. He emigrated to Newcastle from Trinidad with his mother when he was 6, after his father had died unexpectedly. Christened Don Williams, but there was already a Don Williams in Equity so he took Warrington as his stage name.

An article in The Independent mentions that Don Warrington was to have played Macbeth in an English Shakespeare Company tour to South Africa with a multi-racial company. "The African National Congress supported it; the British Council was prepared to fund it. But although South Africa may once more be playing international cricket, and the De Klerk government may seemingly be intent on reform, the plan has failed to convince the actor's union Equity. Last night an acrimonious row broke out between the English Shakespeare Company (ESC) and the union, with the company claiming Equity had blocked its plans. The ESC, which has established a reputation as a leading company for touring Shakespeare under its joint artistic directors, Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington, wanted to extend a tour of Africa this spring into South Africa for three months. However, Equity has advised actors in the company that if they perform in South Africa 'no effective protection can be offered against the consequences.'...The role of Macbeth was to have been played by the black actor Don Warrington, who used to appear in the sitcom Rising Damp."  ~ David Lister, "Cancelled Macbeth awakens Equity's apartheid row", Independent, 4 March 1992