There was nothing particularly spectacular about the conception or birth of Patrick Erikson. Born the eldest of what would become five children to Angela and Robert Erikson, he was not exactly the best news they could have asked for. Angela was just seventeen when she found out she was pregnant with Patrick, with her very first boyfriend who had been the "sweetheart" in every sense of the word that mattered. The captain of the rugby team, Robert was far more concerned with practice and games to really deal with the idea of becoming a father. He'd have to adjust fast, however, when parents became involved and it was pretty clear that very Irish-Catholic parents on Angela's side were adamant that they make honest of their decisions. "If you're going to make adult choices, you have to be an adult and deal with them." That was that, as it seemed, and the two were married as Angela's belly began to grow. For the most part, things were very easy for them. They moved into the garage that had been refurbished into a room in Robert's parents' place, while the two continued to finish out their senior cycle of secondary school.

Robert was offered a scholarship to play for Trinity College in Dublin, so while he focused on his studies as much as he could, Angela focused on taking care of their son. Patrick was, overall, a fairly easy baby. Being their first, he had a good temperament, at least for the first three years. The terrible threes hit, just in time for his first little brother to come along. By that time, Robert was working his ass off at school, preparing to graduate with a degree in business that would lead him into a far better future than they could have hoped for otherwise. Three more children would follow over the next seven years, creating a tight little family unit with far too many kids for their parents to handle, most days.

Robert's job took him away from the home quite a lot, but it seemed even as Patrick was getting older, his father was gone more often than usual. He was ten years old when he overheard his parents fighting; a kind of fight that wakes the neighbors and especially sleeping kids in the other room. Patrick did his best to distract his siblings that night, but in the morning, his father sat them all down on the couch and announced that he wasn't going to live there anymore. It would be a few months before he found out the whole story, that his father had met another woman and decided she was more important than the family he already had.

Patrick didn't see much of his father after that, but his mother worked incredibly hard not to let him become a kid who lost his childhood as a result. When Patrick was thirteen, his mother was offered the opportunity to work for a family friend at his ground-floor startup company in London. It was a big transition, a single mom with five kids to support moving away from hearth & home, but they did it. Patrick would come to respect his mother more than most kids learned at such a young age. He adamantly didn't want to play football or rugby, wanting nothing to do with anything close the things his father loved. His troublemaker ways definitely followed him throughout school, landing him in various headmaster reprimanding throughout his youth.

There wasn't much that could quell the rambunctious nature that seemed so deeply embedded within Patrick, but for a teacher suggesting he join with his school's drama club. At first glance, it seemed completely dumb and not anything he was interested in - though there was a girl he fancied playing the lead in Twelfth Night, so how bad could it be? Patrick progressed from being a stage hand to wanting to test the waters of acting, and by the time the spring play rolled around, he'd been bit hard by the acting bug. For someone like Patrick, the idea of getting lost in characters felt like such a natural fit.

By the time schooling came around, he had his heart set on NYU and worked his ass off to get there. Going overseas for university was daunting to say the least, but a step that felt necessary to chase whatever this weirdo-actor-dream of his happened to be.

The grind and struggle of being a young actor chomping at the bit to get somewhere with his career would stick with him -- and it wasn't until he went home to London and took some auditions there that he'd get his first break, a role in a little film called "Bend It Like Beckham". From that point on, the work felt particularly steady, even if a bit all over the place in terms of the roles he got. Though he hadn't particularly been looking for a television role, when the opportunity came his way to play King Henry VII for Showtime's The Tudors, Patrick fought tooth and nail for the job. The series would in turn become a launching pad for the rest of his career -- he grew bolder with his acting choices, learned a hell of a lot from actors far superior to his own skill, and took the time to learn more about the behind the scenes as well. Patrick made sure to hit the ground running after his time spent on The Tudors, and built up a career for himself that has thrived on more eclectic choices. He ever-wants the challenge of something he hasn't done before, and works hard to make sure that he isn't falling stagnant or into the same types of roles he's already done.

While he hadn't anticipated wanting to write and direct, somewhere towards the end of his time on The Tudors, Patrick wanted to try. As it so happened, he loved the creative process of writing and directing, and has had a few other passion projects over the years. He does at times have grand ideas that he might leave acting behind for directing and/or writing, but always ends up knowing he'd miss the process of the craft too much.