Patricia Clarkson and her boyfriend Darwin Shaw have an age difference of 12 years; the Shutter Island actress is the older one in the relationship.

Patricia is 62 years old and celebrates her birthday on December 29. Likewise, her boyfriend, who was born on February 9, 1972, is 50 years old, 

Patricia was born to her mother Jackie Clarkson and her father Arthur Clarkson in New Orleans. She grew up playing with her four sisters and attended the same high school as them. Before she pursued her drama degree, she was studying speech pathology at Louisiana State University.

She received her master's degree in fine arts from the Yale School of Drama in 1985.

Darwin was born into a mixed-culture family; his mother is British, while his father is originally from Amritsar, India, and his paternal grandparents are from Afghanistan and Kashmir. He grew up with his younger brother in Leeds.

He graduated from King's College London as a medical doctor and worked at King's College Hospital before joining classical theater at LAMDA.