son of Lewis Hallam and part of a family (Hallam family) that pioneered professional theatre in the United States. After his father's death, Hallam's mother married the theatrical manager David Douglass, and the company worked in the U.S. with Hallam as the leading man. After Hallam's mother died (1774) and his stepfather retired to Jamaica, he succeeded to management of the family company. For the next 25 years he managed and acted with various companies throughout the U.S. Though an accomplished actor, he was known as a quarrelsome and financially inept manager.