Don Warrington was born in Trinidad on 23rd May 1952.
His father, Basil Kydd, was a Trinidadian politician who died in 1958 when Don Warrington was still a small child. After the death of his father, Warrington’s mother moved with the family - Don and his brother - to the UK because ‘she needed a change.’ Since that first major migration across continents Warrington has travelled extensively throughout the UK – and the rest of the world. He is now firmly based in London with his wife of over two decades: they have two sons.
He trained as an actor at the Drama Centre London and started acting in repertory theatre at the age of seventeen where he "lost" his Geordie" accent.
Warrington is chiefly known for playing Philip Smith in Rising Damp, from 1974 to 1978, alongside Leonard Rossiter and Richard Beckinsale.
He appeared in Impact Earth (2007) playing General Harris; and in New Street Law as Judge Ken Winyard.
In 1993 Warrington played television reporter Graham Gaunt in To Play The King, the second part of the BBC's House Of Cards trilogy.
He has had smaller roles in many programmes including: Red Dwarf, Lovejoy, Manchild, and Diamond Geezer.
He portrayed the villainous founder of Time Lord society, Rassilon, in several Doctor Who audio plays, and also appeared as the President of an alternate universe Great Britain in the Doctor Who episode "Rise of the Cybermen" (2006).
Soon after, he recorded an abridged audio book of the Doctor Who novel The Art of Destruction by Stephen Cole.
His stage work ranges from productions with the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Bristol Old Vic.
He is one of the interviewees on the BBC 2 series Grumpy Old Men, and he appears in a series of Kenco coffee advertisements in the United Kingdom in which he plays an African coffee plantation owner.
He regularly provides voice-overs for both BBC TV and radio.
He also starred in BBC1 sitcom The Crouches, which aired from 9 September 2003 until 2005. He played Bailey, who was Roly's boss at a London Underground station in South London. Roly was played by Robbie Gee.
He played the role of the Hospital Chaplain in Casualty, assuming the role of Trevor.
He was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honors List for his services to drama.
He also starred in the 2010 film It's a Wonderful Afterlife.
He also appeared as jazz musician Frederick J. Louden in a BBC radio production of The Devil's Music, written by Alan Plater
In 2011, Warrington played the father of a suspected terrorist in the last series of the BBC drama Waking the Dead.
He is currently in the new BBC show Death in Paradise, playing a Caribbean police Commissioner.
Warrington competed in the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with the 2005 and 2006 British National Champion in Latin American dance, Lilia Kopylova.
After Week 4, Warrington was joint seventh out of the remaining 12 contestants with an average of 24.5 points.
In Week 5 he was eliminated, having lost the dance-off against Heather Small, with the first three judges all voting for Small over Warrington.
From October through December in 2012 Don Warrington will be touring the British theatre circuit with a stage performance of the Oscar winning film, Driving Miss Daisy.
Don has received high acclaim for his many stage roles including recognition for his outstanding performances in Elmina’s Kitchen and Statement of Regret at the National Theatre, London - both plays were written by Kwame Kwei-Armah. Other plays have included: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, Raisin in the Sun, The Merchant of Venice, Thee and Me, and Alterations.
Throughout his career Warrington has often worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Talawa and other well established production companies. As well as acting on the stage Warrington has been a stage director in the theatre.
In 2010 he made his directorial debut with the performance of Rum and Coco Cola at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
In an effort to encourage British creative talent Don Warrington is also an executive director of newly formed TV production company, Pampaset, which aims to cultivate and develop young writers who are expressing the current Black British experience.
