Clare Higgins was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, as the second of five children to Paula Cecilia (Murphy) and James Stephen Higgins, both teachers, and had a passion for acting from a young age.
Growing up, Clare was sent to a convent school, but was later expelled and ran away from home at the age of seventeen. This marked a turning point in her life, as she went on to give birth to a son at nineteen, whom she eventually gave up for adoption.
However, Clare was reunited with her son in 1995, and at twenty-three, she finally fulfilled her childhood ambition of becoming an actress by graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.
Clare honed her craft at the Manchester and Royal Exchange Theatre, where she took on leading roles in plays such as "The Deep Man", "Measure For Measure", and "A Streetcar Named Desire", in which she played the iconic role of Stella.
At the same time, she was building a reputation for herself in numerous television plays, including "Pride and Prejudice" (1980),"Unity" (1981),"Hideaway" (1986),"Byron: A Personal Tour" (1981),and the ten-part "The Citadel" (1983) by the BBC, as well as "Cover Her Face" (1985) by ITV.
She also made appearances in the Channel 4 comedy series "Up Line" (1987) and made her feature film debut in Horton Foote's "Nineteen Nineteen" (1985). Clare is also known for her roles in the Clive Barker horror films "Hellraiser" (1987) and "Hellbound: Hellraiser II" (1988).
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Clare consolidated her reputation as a dynamic stage actress, both in London and on Broadway, winning three Olivier awards. She also expanded her skills by training to become a massage therapist and a psychotherapist in the mid-1990s, which she successfully completed.
In recent years, Clare has played regular characters in TV shows such as "Rogue" (2013) by DirecTV, "The Syndicate" (2012),"Parade's End" (2012),"EastEnders" (1985),and "The Worst Witch" (2017) by the BBC, as well as "Homefront" (2012) by ITV.
