Hamish was encouraged into acting as a profession by Julie Vigano, director of ambitious annual dramas at Devonshire House prep-school in Hampstead, London. That led to Saturday classes with Bruce Wooding & others at the Central School of Speech & Drama, inspired direction from Misty Sutton-Price at Portland Place School, a few productions for Hampstead Theatre's Heat & Light youth group, 2 years in Arts Ed Pupils School (Chiswick), and parallel input from John Hoggarth, Paul Roseby et al from the National Youth Theatre (NYT).