Scott Hylands

Due to his longevity and versatility, critics have called him "one of Canada's greatest actors."

Hylands was born in 1943 in Lethbridge, Alberta. His mother, Ruth (née White) Douglas (1913-2005), was a public health nurse, later a mathematics teacher, and his father, Walter Norman Douglas, was killed in action in 1945 during World War II. He was raised and educated in southwest British Columbia, where he attended Shawnigan Lake Boys School on Vancouver Island. He then attended the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and graduated in 1964. Hylands initially studied zoology, but when the university began a theater arts major, he transferred into that program.

Upon graduation, he left Canada to pursue an acting career in New York City, where his first role was as the lead in an off-Broadway production of the comedy Billy Liar.

After that 1965 debut role, he spent several years in San Francisco, acting with the American Conservatory Theater. Then, in 1968, he was asked by Canadian-American Hollywood film director Mark Robson to audition for a movie role. His first film appearance was in the 1969 suspense film Daddy's Gone A-Hunting. He got good reviews, but his movie debut was overshadowed by another film that came out at the same time, Midnight Cowboy.

In August 1975, Hylands appeared onstage as Mercutio in the Los Angeles Free Shakespeare Society production of Romeo and Juliet at the John Anson Ford Theater, known at the time as The Pilgrimage Theatre, in the Cahuenga Pass. He won some critical praise, both for his acting skill and for his good looks.

While he did not become a household name, he worked regularly, appearing in a number of movies, as well as in some American television shows. Among the TV shows in which he acted were Cannon, The Waltons, Kung Fu, Baretta, and Ironside.

On American television, he became well known for playing tough guy characters and villains: as he noted in an interview, if an actor is not the leading man, he generally plays a "heavy."

In the early 1980s, Hylands returned to Canada. He got an opportunity to play a good guy, Detective Kevin "O.B." O'Brien on the television series Night Heat, a police drama, produced in Toronto; it aired on both Canadian (CTV) and American (CBS) TV, from 1985 to 1989. This was his first television starring role.

After Night Heat was canceled, Hylands continued to live in Canada, settling in Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, where he lived for 25 years with his wife, Veronica, a nurse, and their two children. They later relocated to Victoria. He worked in both American and Canadian productions. He appeared as Father Travis in the ABC-TV series V.

He was seen on numerous other programs, including the 1992 TV movie To Catch a Killer, a 1995 episode of the hit cop drama NYPD Blue, and on four episodes of the remade version of The Outer Limits from 1996 to 2001. He also returned to the Canadian stage, playing leading roles in such productions as Waiting for Godot (2015), and The Tempest (1994), among others. He produced and directed a 2008 version of Waiting for Godot, and performed in a solo version of A Christmas Carol. In addition, he directed, as well as performed in, a 2006 production of Under Milk Wood that was staged in Victoria BC.

In 2021, at age 78, he expressed no interest in retiring, and continued to be involved with theater until sidelined by health issues.

In 2021, shortly before his daughter's wedding, the actor was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. A GoFundMe account was set up by his wife to help pay for the well-regarded but expensive medication, Venclexta, needed for Hylands' chemotherapy treatment.