He won hearts as Patrick on Schitt’s Creek, but this is the woman Noah Reid loves most

Noah Reid is an actor and musician who is best known for playing Patrick Brewer in Schitt’s Creek. The 36-year-old opens up about never speaking about his childhood crushes out of fear his older sister would embarrass him, his mum’s sound acting advice and writing songs for his wife.

“Mum took me to auditions and made sure I wasn’t swept up in any current of the industry.” Credit: Vanessa Hines

My paternal grandmother, Isabel, was a health nurse and a mother of four, and a grandmother of eight. She lived in London, Ontario [in Canada]. She also worked as a stewardess in the airline industry at a time when it was a covetable career. She had a keen sense of wit and was quick with humour and very loving.

I started acting when I was eight, and I remember her giving me advice: that no matter what success was coming my way, to hang on to who I am.

My maternal grandmother, Emilia, was born in Lovech, Bulgaria, where she learned to speak English. In the 1930s she migrated with her family to Detroit, Michigan, and fostered a Bulgarian community in the US.

She later lived in California and would brave the Canadian winters to visit us in Ontario, where I grew up. She hated trudging through the snow to get groceries with us, but she did it anyway: she was always tough, loving and functional. She died at the age of 97 in remarkably good shape.

My mum, Doreen Balabanoff, was born in Los Angeles and is a visual artist who has just finished a PhD in architectural glass. She is the heartbeat of our family and was always in tune with what her kids wanted to pursue. In the early ’70s she went to England to study stained glass; that’s where she met my dad, Stuart Reid, also an artist. They have been together for 50 years.

Mum coached my soccer team and helped out in every creative school project. We had a big garage which doubled as my parents’ glass studio. They’d play Neil Young tapes and I got to see them make art. I started acting when still young and it took a lot of parental involvement; Mum took me to auditions and made sure I wasn’t swept up in any current of the industry. She told me to stop if I wasn’t having fun.

I was a very private kid and never spoke about childhood crushes. If I let too many cats out of the bag, my older sister, Thea, would make me pay the ultimate price by embarrassing me.

Thea is four years older than me. She was always looking out for me and trying to pave the way as an older sibling. She is a printmaker. Her work is phenomenal and I’m always in awe of my family’s creative world.

Working with Catherine O’Hara on Schitt’s Creek and Olivia Newton-John on Score: A Hockey Musical have been two career highlights for me. I saw how they approached their work and life and their interactions with other actors, on and off set. There were many valuable lessons in seeing them as humble and giving humans.

Catherine is the gold standard for anyone trying to work in this business. She has such a clear and brilliant sense of comedic presence and connectivity.

Olivia played my mum in Score. I had seen Grease growing up and she was definitely a childhood crush! She was the loveliest, friendliest person. Somebody asked her for an autograph when I was with her and she just did it without question. She turned to me to say, “No matter how many times you get asked to do that, it’s always somebody’s first time.”

I had a long-term relationship before I met my wife, Clare Stone. Clare is a psychiatric health nurse and researcher but did some acting, too. We are coming up to a decade of being together and it’s three years since we got married. Clare is the person I love being with the most.

I have written many songs about my wife, but Rivers Underground was written before our wedding. That song is special and always reminds me of those moments leading to our special day; that’s the path we wanted to go down and are still on.

Noah Reid’s Everything’s Fine Australian tour begins on September 29.

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