Authors
- Margaret Atwood - author
- Leonard Cohen - poet/singer
- Douglas Coupland - author
- Robertson Davies - author
- Arthur Hailey - author
- Margaret Laurence - author
- Stephen Leacock - author/humorist
- Dennis Lee - writer of children's poetry
- Rohinton Mistry - author
- Lucy Maude Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables
- Alice Munro - short story writer
- Robert Munsch - American-born writer of children's books
- Michael Ondaatje - author
- Mordecai Richler - author
- Gabrielle Roy - author
- Carol Shields - author
- Michel Tremblay - author, playwright, poet
See also List of Canadian writers
Business Personalities
- Max Aitken - "Lord Beaverbrook" - publishing baron, entrepreneur
- Conrad Black - "Lord Black of Crossharbour", entrepreneur, publisher,
- Samuel Bronfman - founded the "Seagrams" distillery empire
- Robert Campeau - bankrupted Bloomingdale's Department Store, NYC
- Jack Kent Cooke - owner of the Washington Redskins
- Samuel Cunard - Cunard Steamship Lines
- Paul Desmarais - Chairman: Power Corporation of Canada
- Bernie Ebbers - CEO (former) of WorldCom - largest bankruptcy in world history
- Alfred Fuller - Fuller Brush Company
- Milton and Nelson Good - first Canadian Automobile
- K.C. Irving - Industrialist
- Isaac Walton Killam (Sir)
- Louis B. Mayer - co-founder: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios
- Harrison McCain - French Fries
- Sam McLaughlin - Buick Automobile Manufacturer
- Jimmy Pattison
- Paul Reichmann - sunk by Canary Wharf
- John Roth - CEO (former) Nortel Networks - "the most successful businessman in modern Canadian history"....Time Europe 12/25/00
- E.P. Taylor - entrepreneur, thoroughbred horse breeder
- Jack Warner - founder: Warner Bros. Studios
- Moses Znaimer - television mogul Bravo, MuchMusic
Cartoonists
- Lynn Johnston - writer/cartoonist, For Better Or Worse
- Todd McFarlane - cartoonist/writer, Spawn Spiderman
- Joe Shuster - creator of Superman
Criminals
- Paul Bernardo
- Edwin Alonzo Boyd - bank robber
- Marc Carbonneau - convicted terrorist
- Karla Homolka - (Mrs. Paul Bernardo)
- Jacques Lanctôt - convicted terrorist
- Clifford Olson - convicted serial child killer
- Paul Rose - convicted terrorist
- Jacques Rose - convicted terrorist
- Francis Simard - convicted terrorist
- Jacques Cossette-Trudel - convicted terrorist
- Louise Cossette-Trudel - convicted terrorist
Alleged criminals
- Robert Pickton -- charged with largest number of serial killings in Canadian history, and still counting
- Nicholas Ribic -- charged with having taken UN hostages during the war in the Balkans
Wrongfully accused
- David Milgaard - served 23 years for a murder he did not commit
- Donald Marshall Jr. - wrongfully convicted of murder; seminal trial regarding racism against First Nations people
- Guy Paul Morin - was not only tried twice for the same crime but spent 10 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
Humanitarians
- Norman Bethune - battlefield doctor in Spain and China
- Terry Fox - cancer victim and activist
Inventors
- Alexander Graham Bell - Invented the telephone in Canada, developed it in US. (Canadian/American/Scot)
- Joseph-Armand Bombardier - invented the snowmobile
- J. Brown - invented the washing machine
- Thomas Carroll - first self-propelled combine harvester
- Mathew Evans - co-inventor of the first electric light bulb
- Charles Fenerty - pulp to paper process
- Reginald Fessenden - inventor the Radiotelephone and sonar - produced 1st radio broadcast
- Sir Sandford Fleming - inventor of the system of time zones in use today
- James Gosling - invented Java computer language
- Larry Hanson - co-inventor of green plastic garbage bag
- Rasmus Lerdorf - invented PHP computer language used on internet
- Elijah McCoy - inventor, automatic machinery lubricator, lawn sprinkler, the "real McCoy"
- Samuel McKeen - invented the Odometer
- Gideon Sundback - invented the zipper
- Harry Wasyluk - co-inventor of green plastic garbage bag
- Henry Woodward - co-inventor of the first electric light bulb
Motion Pictures, Radio, & Television
- Pamela Anderson - actress
- Dan Aykroyd - actor/comedian
- Karen Black - actress
- Bernard Braden - comedian and satirist
- Raymond Burr - actor
- James Cameron - director
- Neve Campbell - actress
- John Candy - actor/comedian
- Jim Carrey - actor/comedian
- Tommy Chong - actor/comedian
- David Cronenberg - director
- Hume Cronyn - actor
- Yvonne De Carlo - actress
- Dave Cash - disc jockey
- Colleen Dewhurst - actress
- Dudley Do-Right - cartoon character
- James Doohan - actor
- Atom Egoyan - director (The Sweet Hereafter)
- David Foley - actor
- Michael J. Fox - actor/comedian
- Brendan Fraser - actor/comedian
- Victor Garber - actor
- Chief Dan George - actor
- Rick Green - actor/comedian
- Tom Green - actor/comedian
- Graham Greene - actor: Dances With Wolves
- Lorne Greene - actor (Pa Cartwright on Bonanza), TV news anchor
- Paul Gross - actor
- Peter Gzowski -- radio personality
- Monty Hall - game show host
- Phil Hartman - actor, Saturday Night Live
- Jillian Hennessy - actress, Law & Order
- Foster Hewitt - broadcaster
- Arthur Hiller - winner of 2001 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Oscar
- Peter Jennings - News anchor
- Norman Jewison - director, received The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
- Margot Kidder - actress - "Superman's Lois Lane"
- Kids In The Hall - comedy troupe
- René Lecavalier -- broadcaster
- Eugene Levy - actor/comedian
- Art Linkletter - TV personality
- Rich Little - impressionist
- Howie Mandell - actor/comedian
- Andrea Martin - actor/comedian
- Norm MacDonald - actor/comedian, Saturday Night Live
- Robert MacNeil - journalist: "PBS- MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour"
- Rick Mercer - actor/comedian, This Hour Has 22 Minutes
- Lorne Michaels - originator of Saturday Night Live
- Rick Moranis - actor
- Carrie-Anne Moss - actor, The Matrix
- Mike Myers - actor (Austin Powers), Saturday Night Live
- Leslie Nielsen - actor
- Catherine O'Hara - actress
- Sidney Olcott - (1873-1949) - directed (1907) Ben-Hur
- Jason Priestly - actor Beverly Hills 90210
- Mary Pickford - actress and producer
- Christopher Plummer - actor
- Gilda Radner - actress, Saturday Night Live
- Keanu Reeves - actor
- Ivan Reitman - Director and Producer
- Gloria Reuben - actor: ER
- Morely Safer - journalist: "60 Minutes"
- Frank Schuster - comedian
- Mack Sennett - movie director
- William Shatner - actor
- Martin Short - actor/comedian, Saturday Night Live
- Jay Silverheels - actor: "Tonto"
- Steve Smith - actor/comedian, The Red Green Show
- Dorothy Stratten (1960-1980) - Playboy Playmate & Actress
- Donald Sutherland - actor
- Kiefer Sutherland - actor
- Terrance & Phillip - cartoon characters
- Dave Thomas - actor/comedian
- Alex Trebek - game show host
- Nia Vandalos - actor/screenwriter, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
- Johnny Wayne - comedian
- Fay Wray - actress
Musicians
- Bryan Adams - singer
- Paul Anka - singer
- The Band (excepting Levon Helm)
- Bruce Cockburn - singer
- Celine Dion - singer
- Percy Faith - band leader
- Glenn Gould - pianist, composer
- k.d. lang - singer
- Gordon Lightfoot - singer/songwriter
- Guy Lombardo - his band's instumental version of Auld Lang Syne brought in the new year across North America for more than a generation.
- Joni Mitchell - singer/songwriter
- Alanis Morissette - best known for her album "Jagged Little Pill," playing God in "Dogma," and her groundbreaking work on "You Can't' Say That On Television"
- Anne Murray - In addition to her 1970 most popular hit Snowbird she recorded some 40 albums, and won numerous Grammys. Her melodic style appeals to a slightly more adult audience, and much of her music has been adapted to elevator service.
- Oscar Peterson - (1925- ) jazz pianist
- Stan Rogers - folk musician
- Hank Snow - country & western singer
- Shania Twain - singer
- Gilles Vigneault - his song Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays c'est l'hiver has been a significant rallying song among the Québécois.
- Neil Young - singer/songwriter
- See also: List of Canadian musicians
Political Leaders
- Robert Baldwin
- Henri Bourassa
- Georges-Étienne Cartier
- Lord Durham (John George Lambton)
- C.D. Howe
- Joseph Howe
- Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
- René Lévesque
- William Lyon Mackenzie
- Louis-Joseph Papineau
- Louis Riel
(See also list: Prime Minister of Canada)
Scholars
- Louise Arbour - Jurist
- John Kenneth Galbraith - economist
- Marshall McLuhan - Communications theorist, "The medium is the message"
Scientists
- Sid Altman - Molecular Biology
- Frederick Banting - medical scientist, co-discovered insulin
- Charles Best - medical scientist, co-discovered insulin
- Wilfred Bigelow - first artificial pacemaker
- Bertram Brockhouse - designed the Triple-Axis Neutron Spectroscope
- Charles Edward Saunders - Marquis Wheat
- David Suzuki - Geneticist and science popularizer
For a more detailed list of renowned Canadian scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, see the outside link:
Sports Personalities
Other Personalities
- Scott Abbott - co-inventor of Trivial Pursuit
- Robert Bateman - painter
- Linda Evangelista - supermodel
- Group of Seven - painters
- Brett Hart - pro wrestler entertainer
- Owen Hart pro wrestler entertainer
- Chris Haney - co-inventor of Trivial Pursuit
- Karen Kain - ballerina
- Yousuf Karsh - photographer
- Bat Masterson - (1853-1921) gunfighter, fight promoter, sports journalist
- Edgar Randolph Parker - better known as "Painless" Parker - flamboyant dentist
- William Grant Stairs - Victorian explorer
- Winnie the Pooh - aka Winnipeg the Bear who inspired Milne
See also: Biographical Listing