Sheila met spouse Peter Donaldson while doing an aerobics warm-up (she was the instructor) while in a punk-rock production of 'Godspell' at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario in 1983. With Donaldson (whose father was a Commodore of the Canadian Steamship Line) they have two daughters: one born in 1992 and one born in 1988. They live in Stratford, Ontario in a century-old home that is known to be free of 'bohemian exuberance': Ridpath sofas, club chairs, oriental carpets - the one concession to McCarthy's whimsy is the stainless steel and chrome-clad kitchen with the ceiling covered in retro pressed-tin squares. The summer of 2004, she is playing in 'Guys and Dolls' and 'Anything Goes' in the Stratford Festival and he is playing the lead role in 'Timon of Athens'.