# Patricia Charbonneau

Patricia Charbonneau (born April 19, 1959) is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing the part of Cay Rivvers in Desert Hearts (1985), her first film role, for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.

## Early life

Charbonneau was born in Valley Stream, New York on Long Island, the youngest of 10 children. Her father is French and her mother is Austrian. She graduated in 1977 from Valley Stream Central High School, which she attended with fellow actors Steve Buscemi and Steve Hytner. She later attended Boston University as a theater major, and left after a month to take a position with the Lexington Conservatory Theatre company in the Catskills.

## Early work

At age 19, Charbonneau moved to New York City. She appeared in New York in the Lexington Conservatory Theatre production of The Revengers, a rock opera adaptation by William C. Sandwick and Philip Soltanoff at Playwrights Horizons, alongside Sofia Landon Geier. She also studied with noted acting teacher Fred Kareman and worked in smaller roles, including a part with the New York City Opera. In 1982, as a member of the Actors Theatre of Louisville, she originated the role of Lea in My Sister in this House by Wendy Kesselman, a part that she also played Off-Broadway, helping to launch her film and television career.

## Desert Hearts

In 1985, Charbonneau made her film debut in Donna Deitch's film Desert Hearts, at a time when it was still considered a risk to portray a lesbian in a romantic drama, complete with a lengthy love scene. She told The Globe and Mail, "Kissing Helen wasn't the hard part, really. The hard part was walking out on the set naked and just standing there." Two days before shooting began, she found out that she was pregnant with her first child, whom she once called her "Desert Hearts baby."
For her performance in Desert Hearts, Charbonneau was nominated for a 1987 Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.

## Other notable work

In the following year she appeared in Michael Mann's Manhunter (based on the novel Red Dragon) and then played Anna, the lead, in Call Me (1988), which also featured fellow Valley Streamer Buscemi. The same year, she was featured in the crime drama/action movie Shakedown. Her television work began with a 1986 NBC pilot C.A.T. Squad and continued with dozens of appearances, including HBO's Tales from the Crypt; Crime Story; The Equalizer; Wiseguy; Murder, She Wrote; Matlock; New York Undercover; and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In the 1990 film RoboCop 2, she played the role of Linda Garcia. Despite the character's prominence in the movie's plot, her name is never spoken, and the role was not listed in the credits; observant fans were able to determine the character's name by noticing that she wore a name tag. In 1995, she starred in Mission Critical, a Legend Entertainment sci-fi adventure game. She played one of James Garner's daughters in the 1999 CBS made-for-TV film One Special Night, which featured Julie Andrews.
In March 2007, Charbonneau joined the faculty of the Hudson Valley Academy of Performing Arts in West Taghkanic, New York where she teaches an acting workshop for children and teens.

## Personal life

Charbonneau met musician Vincent Caggiano in 1978, and they married in 1982. She was pregnant with their only child, a daughter, during the filming of Desert Hearts.

## Filmography
### Movies

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983 | MysteryDisc: Many Roads to Murder | Tracey Lowe | Direct-to-video |
| 1985 | Desert Hearts | Cay Rivvers | |
| 1986 | Manhunter | Mrs. Sherman | |
| 1988 | Shakedown | Susan Cantrell | |
| 1988 | Call Me | Anna | |
| 1990 | Brain Dead | Dana Martin | |
| 1990 | RoboCop 2 | Robocop Tech Linda Garcia | Uncredited |
| 1991 | K2 | Jacki | |
| 1996 | Portraits of a Killer | Carolyn Price | |
| 1998 | Kiss the Sky | Franny | |
| 1999 | The Arrangement | Marion Markel | |
| 1999 | She's All That | Lois Siler | |
| 1999 | California Myth | Barbara | |
| 2008 | 100 Feet | Frances | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | C.A.T. Squad | Nikki Blake | TV movie |
| 1986 - 87 | Crime Story | Inger Thorson | Recurring role (season 1) |
| 1987 | The Equalizer | Sally Stevens | Episode: "High Performance" |
| 1987 | Spenser: For Hire | Linda Shannon | Episode: "Mary Hamilton" |
| 1988 | Disaster at Silo 7 | Kathy Fitzgerald | TV movie |
| 1988 - 89 | Wiseguy | Carole Sternberg | Recurring role (season 2) |
| 1989 | Unsub | Lucille | Episode: "Silent Stalker" |
| 1989 | Matlock | Madeline 'Maddy' Medford | Episode: "The Con Man" |
| 1989 | Desperado: Badlands Justice | Emily Harris | TV movie |
| 1990 | Booker | Clara | Episode: "Who Framed Roger Thornton?" |
| 1990 | Midnight Caller | Dakota Roberts | Episode: "Three for the Money" |
| 1991 | Murder, She Wrote | Diana Sterling | Episode: "From the Horse's Mouth" |
| 1991 | Father Dowling Mysteries | Laurie Kidd | Episode: "The Malibu Mystery" |
| 1991 | The Owl | Danny Santerre | TV movie |
| 1991 | Captive | Karen | TV movie |
| 1992 | The Commish | Catherine Belzer | Episode: "Sex, Love and Kerosene" |
| 1992 | Tales from the Crypt | Ellen Renfield | Episode: "Strung Along" |
| 1993 | Renegade | Janet | Episode: "Vanished" |
| 1993 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Robin Henley | Episode: "Storm Warning" |
| 1994 | Viper | Ella Keats | Episode: "Wheels of Fire" |
| 1995 | Extreme | Sheriff Lynn Roberts | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1995 | seaQuest DSV | Elaine Morse | 2 episodes |
| 1996 | Kindred: The Embraced | Camilla | Episode: "Bad Moon Rising" |
| 1997 | Profiler | Barbara Chapin | Episode: "Shattered Silence" |
| 1997 | New York Undercover | Jennifer Lewis | Episode: "School's Out" |
| 1997 | Diagnosis Murder | Fed. Marshal Monica Shattuck | Episode: "Deadly Games" |
| 1998 | Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction | Woman Driving | Episode: "Bright Lights" |
| 1999 | One Special Night | Lori | TV movie |
| 2000 | Strange World | | Episode: "Age of Reason" |
| 2001 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Sydney Markham | Episode: "The Extra Man" |
| 2002 | Law & Order | Janet Naiman | Episode: "Oxymoron" |
| 2008 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Paige Beddles | Episode: "Streetwise" |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1995 | Mission Critical | Lieutenant Commander Tran |