Patricia Hamilton

Patricia Hamilton was born on 27 April 1937 in Regina, Saskatchewan. Her father, James Hamilton, was a lawyer, and her mother, Florence Hamilton (née Stuart), was a nurse. She was trained as an actor at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), and began her career as a stage actress in the United States. She later went to London to pursue further studies in drama at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

While working as an actress in the United States in the 1960s, Hamilton began a romantic relationship with the actor Les Carlson. In 1966 the couple moved to Toronto, and they were married in 1967. Their marriage ended in divorce when their son, the actor Ben Carlson, was two years old.

In 1971 Hamilton performed in the inaugural season of the Tarragon Theatre. She maintained a long association with that theatre that lasted for decades. She appeared in several world premieres at the Tarragon Theatre, including Judith Thompson's I Am Yours (1987), Joan MacLeod's Amigo's Blue Guitar (1990), Michel Tremblay's Impromptu on Nun's Island (2002) and David Gow's Bea's Niece (2005). Some of the other highlights of her work at that theatre include performances in Jack Cunningham's See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1972), Tremblay's Forever Yours, Marie-Lou (1972]), David Freeman's Battering Ram (1973), Joanna Glass's Artichoke (1976), Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic (1978), Margaret Hollingsworth's Mother County (1980), and Tremblay's Albertine in Five Times (1985) among other works.

In November 2008, Hamilton starred in the Harold Green Jewish Theatre production of Kindertransport in Toronto.