Karol was born in Folkestone in Kent, to Henry 'Mick' Ryan, a well-known local cricketer and footballer, and Elsie Howard, a former London beauty queen and Regimental Sergeant Major in the Woman's Army. She was educated at the Folkestone Technical High School for Girls (now the Girls' Grammar School), South Kent College in Ashford, and is a graduate in Mathematics from the University of Kent. Karol's entry into the world of acting in 2005 as Anne Scarlett in 'Hood The Musical' for the Blackfish Theatre Company, she describes as her 'mid-life crisis'. Since then she has many theatre credits to her name including 'Alice The Musical', 'Talking Heads 1 and 2', 'Jack and Beanstalk', 'Dick Whittington', '2000 Years of History', and 'Scrooge'. During the 2009 Christmas pantomime season she was one of the Front of House pirates at the Marlowe Arena for the Evolution Productions pantomime Peter Pan starring Adrian Edmonson. 2013 saw Karol return to the theatre when she took on two lead roles; the first was Lady Fortesque in A New Year's Eve Murder Mystery in Whitstable for The Short Theatre Company. The second was as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest at the Marlowe Theatre for the Back of House Theatre Company. Karol's first foray into motion pictures was in 2006, when she answered a advert in her local paper asking for extras to work on The Other Boleyn Girl at Dover Castle. Since then she has worked in several feature films and short films, including the musicals Les Miserables where she had a featured role during the factory scenes, The Muppets Again, and Into the Woods. During the summer of 2011 she worked on her son's directorial and writing feature film debut, Merry Z-Day, in which she starred as Beth. Karol has recently been the star of two major productions. The first was the pilot for a new web TV series called Second Choice; and the second on a short film/documentary made by Viola Films to commemorate the 100th anniversary of WW1 called Time Bleeds. 2013 was the year Karol worked on several new TV series including Southcliffe, The Tunnel and Edge of Heaven - all of which were shot in her home county of Kent. Karol attended acting and singing workshops at the Blackfish Academy in Dover, and has training in several different dance styles. December 2013.