Born in St. Boniface, today a city ward of Winnipeg, later moving to East Kildonan, Manitoba, Cariou is the son of Molly Estelle (née Moore) and George Marius Cariou, a salesman. His father was Breton and his mother was of Irish descent. Cariou attended Miles Macdonell Collegiate for grades 10 and 11 where he directed and starred in the school plays, and he later attended St Paul\'s College.\n', '

Cariou made his first appearance in Damn Yankees at Rainbow Stage in Winnipeg in 1959, and was a founding member of the Manitoba Theatre Centre. He was offered a scholarship at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal but, married with a young child and financial responsibilities, he was forced to decline the honor. Instead, he learned his craft by spending two years at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Stratford, Ontario, and returned in 1981 to lead the company as Prospero, Coriolanus, Brutus, and Petruchio.\n', '

Cariou also became a lead actor at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis in the 1960s, where he played Orlando in As You Like It, Agamemnon in Tyrone Guthrie\'s compilation of The House of Atreus, Iago, Oberon, and the title roles in Henry V and King Lear. He was also an associate director.\n', '

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