Carlson was a Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee for Best Actor in a Play in 1995 for Hay Fever, and won a Jeff Award in 2007 for his performance as Hamlet at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. His other noted performances have included David Cameron in the Canadian production of The Audience, Walter Shirley in the 2008 miniseries Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning and Wiley in the film My Dog Vincent