This essay documents and analyses the work of actor, writer and director Tony Sheldon. It offers an extended discussion of Sheldon's life as a child star on television and his training on the job with many stage directors including John Bell and Terence Clarke, his development as a lead in musical theatre and his international success in a range of musical theatre productions. The essay offers an account of the distinctive contribution of Sheldon to theatre as a working actor who learned from directors and other actors rather than in a studio or training program.