My great-grandfather has been gone over forty years ... but he probably still bemoans Smallwood as the devil reincarnate....
Famous Canadians
- Thread starter Andem
- Start date
That may be true lone wolf but he is the stuff of legend for sure. Other famous
Canadians included, Joe Shuster, why you ask? He was the inspiration for the
guy we know as Superman. He was born in Toronto in 1914. The other half of
the comic strip was developed by his partner American Jerry Siegle.
Frank Shuster is another, he was a cousin of Joe's and he and Johnny Wayne
were famous comedians on stage and radio.
Canadians included, Joe Shuster, why you ask? He was the inspiration for the
guy we know as Superman. He was born in Toronto in 1914. The other half of
the comic strip was developed by his partner American Jerry Siegle.
Frank Shuster is another, he was a cousin of Joe's and he and Johnny Wayne
were famous comedians on stage and radio.
Jack Bionda was and is the best lacrosse player who ever lived. The rest are so far behind they think they're ahead.
- Scott Abbott and Chris Haney (inventors of game "Trivial Pursuit")
- Dan Aykroyd (movie actor; Elwood of "The Blues Brothers")
- Bryan Adams (musician and songwriter; Grammy award winner; writer of international hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You")
- Pamela Anderson (actress on "Baywatch")
- Paul Anka (singer and songwriter; writer of song "My Way")
- Louise Arbour (Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal, The Hague)
- Arcade Fire (rock band; won 2011 Grammy for album of the year)
- Margaret Atwood (writer; author of "The Handmaid's Tale")
- Donovan Bailey (sprinter; 100m Olympic Gold Medalist, 1996)
- Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) (rock group; writers of songs "You Ain't Seen Nuthin' Yet" and "Takin' Care of Business")
- Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis (co-founders of RIM, developer of Blackberry smartphone)
- The Band (rock group; performed extensively with Bob Dylan)
- Frederick Banting and Charles Best (discoverers of diabetes drug insulin, 1921)
- Barenaked Ladies (rock group; writers of song "If I Had a Million Dollars)
- Norman Bethune ("Bai Qiu En") (medical doctor; hero in Chinese civil war)
- Justin Bieber (teen singing international sensation)
- Roberta Bondar (space shuttle astronaut)
- Paul Brandt (country singer; CMA 2005 Global Artist of the Year)
- Kurt Browning (figure skater; four-time world champion)
- Michael Bublé (pop/jazz singer; won 2007 Grammy award)
- Genevieve Bujold (movie actress; 1969 Academy Award nominee)
- Raymond Burr (actor; star of "Perry Mason" television show)
- James Cameron (director of movie "The Titanic")
- John Candy (comedic actor; police officer Burton Mercer of "The Blues Brothers")
- Jim Carrey (actor; star of such movies as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective")
- Kim Cattrall (actress; co-star of "Sex and the City"; lived in Canada for most of ages three months to 16 years)
- Robert Charlebois (French-language singer and songwriter)
- John de Chastelain (general; overseer of IRA disarmament)
- Hayden Christensen (actor; Anakin Skywalker in the later "Star Wars" movies)
- Cirque de Soleil (acrobatic circus performers)
- Leonard Cohen (poet, singer, and songwriter)
- Holly Cole (jazz singer; especially popular in Japan)
- Douglas Coupland (writer; author of "Generation X")
- H.S.M. Coxeter (world-renowned mathematician; developer of Coxeter groups)
- David Cronenberg (movie director; Cannes Jury Prize winner, 1996)
- Robertson Davies (author; writer of "Fifth Business")
- Romeo Dallaire (general; commander of Rwanda international peacekeeping mission)
- Celine Dion (ballad singer; many huge hits including "Where Does My Heart Beat Now")
- The Dionne Quintuplets (first ever surviving quintuplets)
- Dennis Doherty (musician; founding member of "The Mamas & The Papas")
- James Doohan (actor; Scotty of "Star Trek")
- Drake (Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist)
- Atom Egoyan (movie director; 1998 Academy Award nominee)
- Percy Faith (composer and bandleader; initiator of "easy listening" genre)
- J.C. Fields (mathematician; initiator of the Fields Medal)
- Sir Sandford Fleming (creator of Universal Standard Time, 1879 & 1884)
- Michael J. Fox (television and movie actor; star of "Family Ties" and "Back to the Future")
- Northrop Frye (ledendary literary critic)
- David Foster (prolific music producer of Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand, The Corrs, etc.)
- Nelly Furtado (singer and songwriter)
- Yousuf Karsh (portrait photographer)
- John Kenneth Galbraith (economist; advisor to many U.S. presidents)
- Marc Garneau (space shuttle astronaut)
- Frank Gehry (architect; designed e.g. the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao)
- William Gibson (science fiction author; inventor of "cyberpunk" genre)
- Malcolm Gladwell (writer and journalist; author of "The Tipping Point")
- James Gosling (author of Java computer language)
- Ryan Gosling (Hollywood actor; star of "Crazy Stupid Love")
- Glenn Gould (classical piano player)
- Lorne Greene (actor; star of television show "Bonanza")
- Nancy Greene (skier; 1968 Olympic gold medalist)
- Wayne Gretzky (hockey superstar)
- Paul Gross (actor; played Mountie Benton Fraser on "Due South")
- Group of Seven (early twentieth century painters)
- The Guess Who (rock band; writers of song "American Woman")
- Monty Hall (host of television show "Let's Make a Deal")
- Paul Haggis (Academy Award-winning director of "Crash")
- Phil Hartman (comedian on Saturday Night Live)
- Keith Hastings (inventor of Metropolis-Hastings computer algorithm)
- Douglas Henning (magician, and advocate of Transcendental Meditation)
- Gordie Howe (hockey superstar)
- IMAX Corporation (group of Canadians that invented the IMAX movie format, 1970)
- Kenneth Iverson (author of APL computer language)
- Peter Jennings (ABC television news host)
- Norman Jewison (movie director; winner of 1999 Special Academy Award)
- Ben Johnson (former world-class sprinter)
- Lynn Johnston (creator of "For Better or For Worse" comic strip)
- Brian Kernighan (co-author of C computer language)
- Margot Kidder (actress; Lois Lane of "Superman" movies)
- W.P. Kinsella (author of novel "Shoeless Joe", later made into movie "Field of Dreams")
- K'naan (musician; writer of World Cup anthem "Wavin' Flag")
- Diana Krall (jazz singer)
- Guy LaFleur (hockey superstar)
- k.d. lang (rock/country singer and songwriter)
- Daniel Lanois (musician and producer of Bob Dylan, U2, etc.)
- Avril Lavigne (rock singer and songwriter)
- Stephen Leacock (comedic writer)
- Mario Lemieux (hockey superstar)
- Gordon Lightfoot (folk singer and songwriter)
- Art Linkletter (TV personality; co-host of "Kids Say the Darndest Things")
- Rich Little (voice impressionist)
- Guy Lombardo (big-band leader; 1929-62 performer of "Auld Lang Syne" in New York on New Year's Eve)
- Lewis MacKenzie (general; commander of Sarajevo international peacekeeping mission)
- Steve MacLean (space station astronaut)
- Robert MacNeil (U.S. television news commentator; co-creator of The MacNeil/Lehrer Report)
- Howie Mandel (comedic actor; host of "Deal or No Deal")
- Raymond Massey (movie actor; portrayed Abraham Lincoln)
- Rachel McAdams (movie actor; Regina of "Mean Girls")
- Eric McCormack (actor; played "Will" on TV show "Will & Grace")
- Loreena McKennitt (celtic-style musician)
- Sarah McLachlan (rock singer and songwriter; Lilith Fair organiser)
- Marshall McLuhan (communication theorist)
- David McTaggart (co-founder of Greenpeace)
- Deepa Mehta (Academy Award-nominated director of "Water")
- Men Without Hats (rock group; performers of international top-ten song "The Safety Dance")
- Mike Myers (comedic actor; writer and star of "Wayne's World" and "Austin Powers")
- Lorne Michaels (creator and producer of "Saturday Night Live")
- Joni Mitchell (folk singer and songwriter)
- Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of "Anne of Green Gables")
- Rick Moranis (comedic actor; co-star of movie "Ghost Busters")
- Alanis Morissette (rock singer and songwriter; won 7 Grammy awards)
- Carrie-Anne Moss (actress; Trinity in "The Matrix" movies)
- Farley Mowat (author and conservationist; writer of "Never Cry Wolf")
- Anne Murray (pop singer of e.g. mega-hit "You Needed Me")
- James Naismith (inventor of basketball, 1892)
- Steve Nash (NBA basketball star and two-time MVP)
- Daniel Nestor (tennis player; two-time Wimbledon doubles champion)
- Leslie Nielsen (comedic movie actor; starred in "Airplane" and "Naked Gun" series)
- Sandra Oh (actress; Dr. Cristina Yang on "Grey's Anatomy")
- Michael Ondaatje (author of "The English Patient", later made into a movie)
- Bobby Orr (hockey superstar)
- Ellen Page (movie actress; 2008 Academy Award nominee)
- Julie Payette (space shuttle astronaut)
- Lester Pearson (originator of U.N. Peacekeeping Forces; winner of 1957 Nobel Peace Prize)
- Matthew Perry (actor; Chandler of T.V. show "Friends")
- Russell Peters (stand-up comedian)
- Oscar Peterson (legendary jazz piano player; won 7 Grammy awards)
- Mary Pickford (early movie actor)
- Christopher Plummer (actor; co-star of movie "The Sound of Music")
- John Polanyi (chemist; winner of 1986 Nobel Prize)
- Jason Priestly (television actor on "90210")
- Raffi (children's music performer)
- James Randi, a.k.a. "The Amazing Randi" (magician and skeptic)
- Keanu Reeves (movie actor; star of "The Matrix")
- Ryan Reynolds (movie actor; star of "The Proposal" and "Green Lantern")
- Mordecai Richler (author; writer of "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz")
- Maurice "Rocket" Richard (hockey superstar)
- Stan Rogers (folk singer and songwriter)
- Mark Rowswell ("Da Shan") (TV host and comedy star in China)
- Greg Rusedski (professional tennis player, now plays for Britain)
- Rush (progressive rock / heavy metal group; received "Living Legend Award" from London's Classic Rock)
- Morley Safer (reporter/correspondent for CBS News and 60 Minutes)
- Robert J. Sawyer (science fiction author; Nebula and Hugo Award winner)
- Myron Scholes (economist; winner of 1997 Nobel prize)
- Paul Shaffer (band leader on David Letterman's "Late Night" television show)
- William Shatner (actor; Captain Kirk of "Star Trek")
- Martin Short (comedic movie actor)
- Joe Shuster (creator of "Superman" character, 1938)
- Hank Snow (country singer; released mega-hit "I'm Movin' On" in 1950)
- Andrew Michael Spence (economist; winner of 2001 Nobel Prize)
- Elvis Stojko (figure skater)
- Donald and Kiefer Sutherland (father & son acting stars)
- Alan Thicke (TV actor, host, and theme song writer)
- Alex Trebek (host of television show "Jeopardy")
- Pierre Trudeau (politician and statesman)
- Shania Twain (country singer and songwriter)
- Nia Vardalos (writer and star of movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding")
- Gilles Vigneault (French-language singer and songwriter)
- Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve (father & son champion racecar drivers)
- Roch Voisine (French-language rock singer)
- Al Waxman (actor; Lt. Bert Samuels of "Cagney and Lacey")
- Mike Weir (golf champion)
- Neil Young (singer, musician, and songwriter)
- Robert Young (co-founder of Red Hat linux company)
- Mortimer Zuckerman (publisher/owner of New York Daily News)
See also other related lists here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Here is one list I found for you
I was a little surprised to see Pierre Trudeau made the list, Jimmy Pattison didn't. Brian Mulroney will be pissed off.
