Amelia Hall was born in England, but emigrated with her parents to Canada at the age of five. After graduating from McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario with an honours degree in English, she taught school in Ottawa for nine years. But her real love was theatre, and in 1948 she made her stage debut in a production of Robertson Davies' "Eros at Breakfast" with the Canadian Art Theatre. She later founded the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa.She auditioned for Tyrone Guthrie at Stratford's new Shakespearean Festival in 1953, and was cast as Lady Anne opposite Alec Guinness' Richard III. She was the first woman to appear and speak on Stratford's stage, and rarely missed a season in the 30 years that followed.