Tabitha St. Germain, formerly known as Paulina Gillis, was born c. 1963 in Boston, Massachusetts to Canadian parents. She attended private schools in South Africa while her father worked for development agencies in Swaziland. She made her first stage appearance at age 8 as Tiny Tim in a production of A Christmas Carol, and then made frequent appearances in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. She moved to Canada in 1980 and studied theatre at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making her professional debut in South Pacific at Huron County Playhouse.[2] Gillis was raised in the Catholic faith, but left it and found another which, by 1984, she also abandoned.[3] She won a Dora Award in 1995 for her performance in Assassins, the Stephen Sondheim musical.[4] She legally changed her name to Tabitha St. Germain in November 1997.[5