Pauline Henriques was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1914 and was brought to England at the age of 5 by her parents. She trained at LAMDA. Henriques was a founder of the Negro Theatre Company. She became the first black actress to appear on British television in a broadcast of Eugene O'Neill's All God's Chillun Got Wings. She received an OBE in 1969 and died in 1998.