List of Famous people born in Canada
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Rodney Reynolds is a Canadian-American actor, film producer, and entrepreneur. He began his career starring in the Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991–1993), and had minor roles before landing the lead role on the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl between 1998 and 2001. Reynolds then starred in a range of films, including comedies such as National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), Waiting... (2005), and The Proposal (2009). He also performed in dramatic roles in Buried (2010), Woman in Gold (2015), and Life (2017), starred in action films such as Blade: Trinity (2004), Deadpool (2016), and 6 Underground (2019) and provided voice acting in the animated features The Croods (2013), Turbo (2013), and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019).
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Discovered at age 13 by talent manager Scooter Braun after he had watched Bieber's YouTube cover song videos, Bieber was signed to RBMG Records in 2008. With Bieber's debut EP My World, released in late 2009, Bieber became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut record chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
Norm Macdonald
Norman Gene Macdonald is a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor, known for his deadpan style. Early in his career, he wrote for the sitcom Roseanne, and made guest appearances on shows such as The Drew Carey Show and NewsRadio. Macdonald was then a cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL) for five years, including anchoring the Weekend Update segment for three seasons. After leaving SNL, he starred in the 1998 film Dirty Work and in his own sitcom, The Norm Show, from 1999 to 2001.
Grimes
Claire Elise Boucher, known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her music has incorporated elements of varied styles, including dream pop, electronic, R&B, and hip hop, while touching on science fiction and feminist themes. She has released five studio albums.
Denis Villeneuve
Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is a four-time recipient of the Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction, for Maelström in 2001, Polytechnique in 2009, Incendies in 2011 and Enemy in 2013. The first three of these films also won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Motion Picture, while the latter was awarded the prize for best Canadian film of the year by the Toronto Film Critics Association.
Drake
Aubrey Drake Graham is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and entrepreneur. A prominent figure in popular music, Drake is credited for popularizing the Toronto sound. He first gained recognition as an actor on the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001-2007); intent on pursuing a career in music, he left the series after releasing his debut mixtape Room for Improvement. He released two more independent projects, Comeback Season and So Far Gone, before signing to Young Money Entertainment.
Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and writer. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a regular role in the American sketch comedy television series In Living Color. His first leading roles in motion pictures came with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), The Mask (1994), Dumb and Dumber (1994), and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), as well portraying the Riddler in Batman Forever (1995), and the lead role in Liar Liar (1997).
Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu is a British tennis player.
Elliot Page
Elliot Page is a Canadian actor and producer. He first became known for his role in the film and television series Pit Pony (1997–2000), for which he was nominated for a Young Artist Award, and for recurring roles in Trailer Park Boys (2002) and ReGenesis (2004). Page also received recognition for his role in the film Hard Candy (2005), and won a Austin Film Critics Association's Award.
William Shatner
William Shatner is a Canadian actor, author, producer, director, screenwriter, and singer. In his seven decades of acting, Shatner became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the Star Trek franchise. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk, being a part of Star Trek, and life after Star Trek. Shatner has also co-written several novels set in the Star Trek universe, and a series of science fiction novels called TekWar, that were adapted for television.
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain, and by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than $2 million.
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Thomas Gosling is a Canadian actor and musician. He began his career as a child star on the Disney Channel's The Mickey Mouse Club (1993–1995), and went on to appear in other family entertainment programs, including Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1995) and Goosebumps (1996). His first starring film role was as a Jewish neo-Nazi in The Believer (2001), and he went on to star in several independent films, including Murder by Numbers (2002), The Slaughter Rule (2002), and The United States of Leland (2003).
Shawn Mendes
Shawn Peter Raul Mendes is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He gained a following in 2013, posting song covers on the video-sharing application Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gertler and Island Records A&R Ziggy Chareton, which led to him signing a deal with the record label. Mendes's self-titled debut EP was released in 2014, followed by his debut studio album Handwritten in 2015. Handwritten debuted atop the US Billboard 200, making Mendes one of five artists ever to debut at number one before the age of 18. The single "Stitches" reached number one in the UK and the top 10 in the US and Canada.
Kyle Beach
Kyle Beach is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. As of 2021, he is under contract with Black Dragons Erfurt in the Oberliga. Beach played junior hockey for the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League. Beach was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Beach has spent most of his professional hockey career with the Rockford Ice Hogs of the AHL. At the start of the 2013–14 season, Beach briefly played for HV71 of the Swedish Elite League. He joined the Wolfpack after the New York Rangers acquired his rights in a trade with the Blackhawks.
John Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its Second City Television (SCTV) series, and through his appearances in comedy films, including Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, Summer Rental, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle Buck, as well as more dramatic roles in Only the Lonely and JFK. One of his most renowned onscreen performances was as Del Griffith, the talkative shower-curtain ring salesman in the John Hughes comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles. In addition to his work as an actor, Candy was a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League from 1991 until his death, and the team won the 1991 Grey Cup under his ownership. Candy died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43. His final two films, Wagons East and Canadian Bacon, are dedicated to his memory.
Sunny Leone
Karenjit Kaur Vohra, known by her stage name Sunny Leone, is a model and an actress in the Indian film industry and a former pornographic actress. She has Indian, Canadian and American citizenship. She has also used the stage name Karen Malhotra. She was named Penthouse Pet of the Year in 2003, was a contract performer for Vivid Entertainment, and was named by Maxim as one of the 12 top porn stars in 2010.
Justin Trudeau
Justin Pierre James Trudeau is a Canadian politician who has served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada since 2015 and has been the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013. Trudeau is the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history; he is also the first to be the child or other relative of a previous holder of the post, as the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau.
Nora Fatehi
Nora Fatehi (born 6 February 1992) is a Canadian dancer, model, actress, singer and producer who is best known for her work in the Indian film industry. She has appeared in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil language films. She made her film debut in the Bollywood film Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans. She gained popularity in Telugu cinema by doing item numbers in films like Temper, Baahubali: The Beginning and Kick 2 and has also starred in two Malayalam films, Double Barrel and Kayamkulam Kochunni.
Rachel McAdams
Rachel Anne McAdams is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre degree program at York University in 2001, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film Perfect Pie (2002), for which she received a Genie Award nomination, the comedy film My Name Is Tanino (2002), and the comedy series Slings and Arrows (2003–2005), for which she won a Gemini Award.
Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair is an English actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter. He is possibly most well-known in the United Kingdom for presenting the quiz programme Name That Tune.