[1][4] He was raised and educated in southwest British Columbia, where he attended Shawnigan Lake Boys School[5] on Vancouver Island.
[6] Hylands initially studied zoology, but when the university began a theater arts major, he transferred into that program.
[7] 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.
[10] 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.
O'Brien on the television series Night Heat,[16] a police drama, produced in Toronto; it aired on both Canadian (CTV) and American (CBS) TV, from 1985 to 1989.
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.