Emotionally compelling actor and director, born in the Barbados in 1959. Alison Sealy-Smith studied psychology at Mount Allison University, and has been active in Canadian theatre for over thirty-five years. In 1981, she joined the Pelican Players, Canada's first multicultural community theatre. She returned to the Barbados in 1982 with her daughter, and acted in plays by Earl Warner. Without a formal acting education, she learned from directors and actors. Following her return to Canada 1985, she performed with the Pelican Players in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in other theatre festivals in England and Holland. During the 1980s, she worked with community theatres such as Ground Zero Productions, Theatre Outreach, Theatre Fountainhead, Theatre in Exile, and the Imani Theatre Ensemble.