Patricia Charbonneau (born April 19, 1959) is an American actress,^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[3] 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.

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

In 1985, Charbonneau made her film debut in Donna Deitch's film Desert Hearts,^[6] 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."^{[citation needed]} 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.^[7]

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.

Charbonneau met musician Vincent Caggiano in 1978, and they married in 1982. They have a daughter.^[3]

• Patricia Charbonneau at IMDb