Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below does canada have its own celebrities? I know other couintries do but mostly us clebrites take the cake no other countries come clsoe as far as popualrity goes but liek is there a ebst selling cnadian musician does cnada have there own mmusic awards do they have their own rap stars ?
does canada have its own celebrities?
- Thread starter nice6pac
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HansNZ
New member
nice6pac said:
Surely you've heard of Celine Dion, Peter Jennings??
I think the difference is cultural.
I am not Canadian, but I know that compared to other societies the USA is absolutely OBSESSED with celebrity. Its all about ego and having to be the centre of attention. Americans crave the limelight and being "popular", so it is only natural that celebrities are admired in US society.
There seems to be this American idea that you haven't done anything until you've done it publicly. This is probably why foreigners are stunned by the Americans who go on talkshows to talk about things that most of us would be privately ashamed of.
This need to be the centre of attention is noticeable in the way American movies are written. If it is a love story then the film has to end with some public display, i.e. a marriage proposal gets broadcast on TV, or something else has to happen in front of a crowd. Success in the USA is often defined by becoming famous. Even notoriety is desirable.
This is just my perspective, as someone looking in from outside the USA. Other countries do celebrate celebrity too, but Americans are more focussed on themselves, so they don't really pay attention to foreigners who aren't celebrities in the USA in their own right.
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ajtomasi
Guest
Yeah we do, but most of the quality ones end up big in the states.
Like the Barenaked Ladies were HUUUUGE here way before they hit it big in the US.
There's one band here that are really big, but I hate em' : Tragically Hip.
We have our own rappers, the best one by far is Kardinal Official, but I think he just got a US deal. Then theres Swollen Members and The Raskals who are pretty popular, but SUUUUUUUCK.
Like the Barenaked Ladies were HUUUUGE here way before they hit it big in the US.
There's one band here that are really big, but I hate em' : Tragically Hip.
We have our own rappers, the best one by far is Kardinal Official, but I think he just got a US deal. Then theres Swollen Members and The Raskals who are pretty popular, but SUUUUUUUCK.
Beachbum1546
New member
dont forget about PAMELA ANDERSON!!!
Beachbum1546
New member
Dont forget about PAMELA ANDERSON!
avril lavigne....but who cares?
avril lavigne....but who cares?
c-sharp minor
Well-known member
The Canadian Celebrities Site
Actors & Comedians
Biographies by profession: Actors / Comedians | Actresses / Comediennes | Musicians | Sport Figures | Other Professions
Graham Greene
Graham was born on June 22, 1952 on the Six Nations Reserve just outside of Brantford, Ontario. In 1974 he graduated from The Centre for Indigenous Theatre's Native Theatre School program. In the 1980s he began to get some acting roles but really burst onto the big screen with his role as Kicking Bird in the 1990 Kevin Costner film Dances With Wolves.
Since then he has made numerous appearances on the big and little screen as varied as X-Files, The Red Green Show, The Green Mile and Die Hard. Graham's latest film is Duct Tape Forever.
Joshua Jackson
This native Vancouverite was born June 11, 1978. Many people first took note of him on the big screen in the Mighty Ducks films which centered around the great sport of hockey.
His next move to make people sit up and take note was his continuing role as Pacey Witter on the television show Dawson's Creek. Now know as a teen heartthrob he's been in many successful teen films over the last few years. They include: Scream 2, Urban Legend, Cruel Intentions and most recently a couple of great roles in The Skulls and Gossip.
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Donald Sutherland
Born July 17,1934 in Saint John, New Brunswick, he has had a long and successful career. We all know his son Kiefer Sutherland. Here are some films you may remember Donald from: The Dirty Dozen, MASH (the movie), National Lampoon's Animal House, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, JFK, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Six Degrees of Separation, Outbreak, and A Time to Kill.
Raymond Burr
Raymond Burr was born on the twenty-first of May, 1917 in New Westminister, British Columbia. He passed away on September twelfth, 1993. Although he played numerous roles over his life, he is probably best known for his role as lawyer Perry Mason, which he first played in 1957 and continued to play up until his death. He also is remembered for his starring role in the 1960s/70s television show Ironside.
David James Elliot
Although he now plays a lawyer for the United States Military weekly in the series JAG, David James Elliot's roots are definitely Canadian. David was born on September 21, 1960, in Milton (a small suburb Toronto), Ontario. He grew up in Milton, but spent much time in the Bahamas, as most of his father's relatives lived there.
David's early interest was in music. He was front man for a number of bands, or just one band with many different monikers. David briefly quit high school to pursue music full time. The bands kept breaking up and he eventually got fed up. At 19 he went back to finish high school. During a class where King Lear was being studied David read the part of Lear. Upon hearing him his teacher encouraged him to consider the possibilities of a career in acting.
He followed up his high school completion with the theatre school at Polytechnic University in Toronto. He went on to become a member of the Young Company of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival. While part of the company, he won the Jean Chalmers Award as Most Promising Actor.
He went on to play the role of Dick the Male Stripper in B Movie: The Play, in Toronto. Through this performance he was noted by one of the producers of CBC's Street Legal. David was auditioned for and won the role of Nick Del Gado, a Toronto police detective.
Street Legal proved to be a breakthrough for David. The producers kept giving him more to do, and he kept improving, so that by 1988-89, he had achieved co-star status, and became somewhat of a household name in Canada (named Flare magazine's Bachelor of the Year). In 1990, with the offer of a development deal from Disney, David made the move to Los Angeles. However, it required him to ad the 'James' to his name because there was already a 'David Elliot' in the Screen Actors Guild.
The development deal with Disney fell through. David found other roles, but nothing that brought him stardom.
In 1995 he landed the role of Lt. Harmon Rabb Jr., which has since made him the well-known actor he is today. David is now in his eighth season on JAG.
Jason Priestly
Jason came to the attention of fans all over the world through his role as Brandon Walsh on Beverly Hills 90210. He co-starred in the film Calendar Girl and Love and Death in Long Island. He appears to have left acting behind him but has stayed in the entertainment business taking on roles include directing, producing and auto racing.
Norm MacDonald
One of our great comedians from the Great White North. He first came to fame hosting the fake news on Saturday Night Live. After leaving SNL he starred in his own sitcom appropriately titled The Norm Show. Since the end of his sitcom he has had small roles in several films including Man on the Moon, Screwed, and Dr. Doolittle.
Originally from Quebec City, Norm started his career in comedy working as a stand-up comic. After working the Canadian curcuit he moved to Los Angeles and became a writer on the sitcom Roseanne. From there he moved on to Saturday Night Live where he gained a wide following.
William Shatner
Mr. Shatner is definitely best known for his role as Capt. James T. Kirk on the Star Trek series and films. Today, in addition to poking fun at himself through roles on Third Rock form the Sun and in Priceline commercials, he spends time authoring TekWar books.
James Doohan
This World War II pilot turned actor is best known for his portrayal of Scotty on the original Star Trek series, which he last played in the film Generations. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, but grew up in Sarnia, Ontario.
Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on February 12, 1915. He passed away on September 11, 1987. He began his career as a radio broadcaster. While at the CBC he was given the nickname The Voice of Doom due to the combination of the depressing World War II news he broadcasted on the air and his booming voice. Lorne later moved onto acting and is best remembered for his roles as Ben Cartwright on the show Bonanza and Commander Adama on Battlestar Galactica.
Rich Little
This son of a doctor was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on the twenty-sixth of November, 1938. In addition to a multitude of performances on television and in film as a comedian and impressionist, he portrayed Johnny Carson in the 1996 film The Late Shift.
Michael Mahonen
Michael Mahonen was born in 1964 on the twenty-seventh of April in the northern Ontario city of Kirkland Lake. His first step into the world of acting was during grade seven when he dedicatedly attended an acting class. The class ended abruptly and Michael didn't really feel the nibble of the acting bug again until after high school.
Out of high school he attended Northern College, where he did a little soul-searching and determined that the path he was heading on there did not truly fit his desires. This prompted him to take some time off of school to mull over his future. He took a chance by auditioning for the Theatre Arts program at George Brown College in Toronto. He was accepted and graduated from the program in 1989. For the next year or so he took roles on stage in various productions around Canada.
In 1990 Michael made his first appearance as Gus Pike on the classic CBC television series The Road to Avonlea. The original intent of the writers was to have the Gus Pike character appear in only a few episodes. Michael proved so popular that until the final season of the show the character's involvement on the series ranged from occasional to every episode. Some of the breaks from the show were prompted by Michael's ventures into other opportunities. While Michael's role as Gus Pike earned him 3 Gemini nominations, it was his role a Lee Cogan on the CBC miniseries Conspiracy of Silence that earned him a Gemini Award for the 1993 Awards.
Since the conclusion of the Avonlea series Michael has continued to pursue his career south of the border with roles on television and screen but still kept his strong Avonlea following.
Brendan Fraser
Brendan currently holds dual citizenship as an American and a Canadian. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A., where his father was stationed as a foreign service officer for the Canadian Government Office of Tourism, on December 3, 1968. Because of his father's position, Brendan grew up all around including Holland, Switzerland, the U.S., and Canada. He went to school at the Upper Canada College in Toronto, Ontario, as well as the Cornish College of Arts in Seattle.
Brendan got his big break in the 1992 film Encino Man. Since then he's appeared in quite a few films; some as a goof (George of the Jungle, Airheads, Dudley Do-Right, and Monkeybone), some as a preppy-type (With Honours, and Mrs. Winterbourne), a few as a more serious type (The Quiet American and The Mummy) and some I've never heard of (The Passion of Darkly Noon, The Scout, and The Proffesional Man).
Colin Mochrie
Most people closely identify Coline Mochrie with his work on the improvisation show Who's Line is it Anyway?
He was born on November thirtieth, 1957 in Kilmarnock, Scotland. He and his family moved to Montreal, Quebec in 1964 and then onto Vancouver, British Columbia in 1969. He involved himself in improv work through the Vancouver Theatresports league. Later on, after a move to Toronto, he became a member of the comedy troupe Second City.
In addition to his fame stemming from the British and American versions of the Who's Line is it Anyway? he has made appearances on the silver screen in several films as well as a slew of guest appearances on the small screen including The Drew Carey Show. Additionally he has been keeping himself busy for the last couple of years on the CBC satiral news show This Hour Has 22 Minutes where he took over for Rick Mercer.
Keanu Reeves
Keanu was born in Beirut, Lebanon on September 2, 1964 to a British mother and a father of Hawaiian-Chinese decent. His name in Hawaiian means cool breeze over the mountains. When Keanu's parents divorced he moved with his mother to New York where she met director Paul Aaron. They all moved to Toronto, and became Canadian citizens (which Keanu still is). Keanu has lived in Lebanon, Australia, New York, Toronto, and now California.
Keanu dropped out of school at 17 to pursue acting. Although Keanu had been acting professionally for several years already, the film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was where Keanu first really got noticed by the movie-going public. Keanu's career since has had many ups and downs. He's acted in several small cult-like films such as My Own Private Idaho, Little Buddha and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues a few others which didn't do nearly as well in the box office as anticipated such as Johnny Mnemonic and had a few blockbusters as action-hero types in Speed and The Matrix. These days he's on a big upswing with the follow-ups to The Matrix greatly-anticipated by many movie-goers.
View Keanu's full filmography and links to fans sites at The Canadian Celebrities Site's Keanu Reeves Related... page
Paul Gross
Paul was an army brat born in Calgary, Alberta. He went to school in England, Germany, Washington D.C., and the University of Alberta.
After university he did some stage acting as well as writing some plays of his own. His first play, The Deer and the Antelope Play, won the Clifford E. Lee National Playwrighting Award and the Alberta Cultural Playwrighting Award (1982). After a few more plays he was invited to be the playwright-in-residence for the Stratford Festival. He's written quite few plays, and a few television episodes as well, which have all been very well received.
Of course he now has plenty of acting experience as well. He is widely known for his part as Constable Benton Fraser on the television series Due South which can still be found on TNT in the U.S. and on Showcase in Canada. More recently he acted, wrote, and directed the film Men With Brooms that also starred Leslie Nielsen.
John Candy
This SCTV alumni passed away in 1994. He was a brilliant comedian who appeared in many great films including: The Blues Brothers, Heavy Metal (voice), Stripes, National Lampoon's Vacation, Splash, The Canadian Conspiracy, Armed and Dangerous, Little Shop of Horrors, Spaceballs, Planes Trains and Automobiles, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, Who's Harry Crumb, Delirious, JFK, Only The Lonely, Once Upon A Crime, Cool Runnings, Wagon's East, and Canadian Bacon.
Thomas Cavanagh
I first took notice of Thomas Cavanagh in Speedy Muffler commercials a few years back. Today he stars on the popular NBC show Ed where he plays a lawyer come bowling-alley owner.
But let's step back a moment here. Tom was born in Ottawa, Ontario on October 26, 1968 and was soon to be the second-oldest of five siblings. His family moved to Ghana, Africa when he was just a small child. Summers were spent in Europe. His parents worked as educators, his father educating the local teachers in up-to-date methods, while his mother taught the local students. The family returned to Canada before Tom's high school years and landed in Lennoxville, Quebec. Tom went on from there to go to Queens University where he received degrees in English, Biology and Education while also participating as a member of the basketball team.
How Tom's interest in acting grew is unclear, but apparently playing Danny Zuko in a production of Grease solidified the notion. This work was followed up by more in the theatre, as well in memorable national commercial spots for Speedy, Oh Henry and Labatt's Beer among others. He later was taken on for a re-occuring role on the Canadian series Jake and the Kid
In 1999 Tom moved to L.A. He landed the role of Ed on a pilot called Stuckeyville for CBS and landed a re-occuring role as "Doug" on the series Providence. While Providence raised his profile, his role of Ed has brought him a lot of attention these days. CBS didn't pick up Stuckeyville, but NBC did, and changed its name to Ed.
Ed can be seen on NBC on Friday nights. Tom has maintained his home in L.A. while the show Ed shoots in New York.
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Scott Speedman
This native Torontonian started his venture into acting at age 18 when he went on Speaker's Corner and offered himself up to play the part of Boy Wonder in Batman Forever when the casting director for it was in town. He didn't get the part, but he made an impression and got himself an agent.
He's now 27 and gained fame co-starring on the show Felicity as Ben. Before his overnight success as Ben he had a few parts here and there, and more recently got attention for his role with Gwyneth Paltrow in the film Duets.
Joseph Wiseman
He played Dr. No in the Bond film of the same name.
Kids in the Hall
The Kids in the Hall were a Canadian comedy troupe whose television show aired on HBO, Comedy Central, CBS, and the CBC over several years. The troupe (David Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson) decided to stop production of their show after five seasons (from 1989-1995, and a total of 10 years together as a troupe), to pursue other things. Members have since been on The Larry Sanders Show, Saturday Night Live, News Radio and various films. They also released a motion picture in 1996 called Brain Candy.
Dave Foley
Dave, who starred as Dave Nelson on the television show News Radio, was born January 4, 1963 in Toronto.
Most people are aware that before his part on News Radio as Dave Nelson, that he was a member of the Canadian comedy troupe The Kids in The Hall who had their own television show with a little help from Lorne Michaels. The show was carried in Canada and the U.S. and can still be seen in re-runs on the Comedy Network in Canada. I have recently found out that Dave was also a part of Second City (although not SCTV).
Since the end of the series News Radio, a year after Phil Hartman's death, he has taken on roles in various films and television shows. He played a straight-laced-crewcutted member of Richard Nixon's staff in the film Dick, as well as an interesting character in the film Blast from the Past with fellow Canadian Brendan Fraser.
Scott Thompson
Scott is often referred to as "the gay guy" of Kids In The Hall. After the end of their series he went onto the Larry Sanders Show as Brian and later several small, but still funny, roles in film.
Bruce McCulloch
The Kids In The Hall member best known as Kathy the secretary, or maybe as that rock singer guy. For a few years before their show, and a short while after, he was employed as a writer for Saturday Night Live. He has a CD out, pretty funny, titled SHAME-BASED MAN.
Bruce has been keeping himself busy in a variety of roles including director, writer, and a few small acting roles. Keep an eye out in the video stores for his film Dog Park as well as his protrayal of a reporter in the film Dick.
Kevin McDonald
He's the awesome guy with the big hair from Kids In The Hall. Since they've stopped working together regularly he's taken on a variety of acting roles on television and in film including National Lampoons Senior Trip, The Wrong Guy, Galaxy Quest and That 70s Show.
Mark McKinney
I'm crushing your head, I'm crushing your head. Yes, he was the Head Crusher of Kids in The Hall. And let's not forget the Chicken Lady too. This Ottawa native was on Saturday Night Live in late 1995 for about a year or so and has since been in several films including Spice World, A Night at the Roxbury, Superstar, and The Ladies Man.
Mark Lutz
This up and coming Canadian actor has had many small roles on television and a few on the silver screen as well. More prominently he's had a recurring role on the series Angel as Groosalugg, in March he played Mona's boyfriend on an episode of Friends and many Canadians will recognize him from his starring role on the CTV movie Power Play as Jukka Branny-Acke a.k.a. Brainiac.
Mark was born on Valentine's Day in Montreal, Quebec where he grew up until the age of thirteen when his family moved to Hong Kong for nearly five years. Upon his return to Canada the family moved to Toronto where he completed his high school education. He then went on to earn a Honors B.A. in Political Science at the University of Guelph.
After his graduation from Guelph he moved into the field of entertainment. He started through working in improvisation, and from there acquired an agent and moved into acting. In January of 2001 Mark relocated to Los Angeles from Toronto. This move has helped him acquire roles such as Groosalugg on Angel which he landed only two months after arriving in the city.
Bob & Doug McKenzie
Bob & Doug were characters Rick Moranis (Bob), and Dave Thomas (Doug) played on the show SCTV. Their skit "The Great White North" was such a hit they made an album in 1981, then a movie in 1983 called Strange Brew. They won two Juno awards and a Grammy Nomination for their Bob & Doug McKenzie:Great White North Album, and a Golden Reel Award for Strange Brew.
Dave Thomas
No, I'm not talking about the Wendy's guy. This is the hosehead from the Great White North. There was some talk of a another film starring Bob & Doug McKenzie, but not much word lately. Dave was on SCTV, and now can be seen in reruns as the pharmacist on Grace Under Fire.
Nicholas Lea
Nicholas Lea is known by most people from his role as FBI Special Agent Alex Krycek on the television series The X-Files. He started out life June 22, 1962 in New Westminster, B.C. and had an interesting time before he started acting at age 25. He was the lead singer of an alternative band titled Beau Monde for five years, served in the Navy for two years and even went to art school!
Nick's acting credits include recurring roles on John Woo's Once A Thief as Victor Mansfield and The Commish as Officer Ricky Caruso as well as guest appearances on numerous series including The Outer Limits & Sliders.
Steve Smith
Steve Smith was born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in the suburbs. In 1978 he and his wife began their television show Smith & Smith which had a successful run on Canadian television for about 9 years. Steve now stars, produces, and co-writes the Red Green Show. The show has spun off a few other successful enterprises including a book, a movie, and a spokemanship for duct tape.
Maury Chaykin
Upon seeing his face you know him... but from where? Maury has had numerous memorable, but small, roles in many big screen hits. Some remember him most vividly from Dances with Wolves where he played the crazed Major Fambrough who sent Kevin Costner to the frontier before committing suicide. Some others will remember him a the kind-hearted lawyer in Mystery Alaska. These days he can be seen on a regular basis on A&E as the title character in the series Nero Wolfe. The show started as a set of televised films and has moved to a weekly series format.
Maury was born on July 27, 1949 and reports vary as to whether he was born in Brooklyn, New York or somewhere in Ontario and moved shortly thereafter to Brooklyn. His mother is Canadian and father American. He has worked in Canada since 1974 he currently lives in Toronto and holds dual Canadian-American citizenship. Maury has received plenty of praise for his work in Canada. He won a Nellie Award in 1986, a Genie Award in 1995 for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Whale Music as well as a Gemini Award for Best Actor in a Guest Lead for his part on La Femme Nikita.
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Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen was chosen to play Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader for Episodes 2 and 3 of the Star Wars franchise. While Hayden has been acting since he was a young child, it was this announcement that brought his talent to the attention of movie goers everywhere. Hayden was born Sterling Hayden Christensen in Vancouver, BC on April 19, 1981 into a family with a son and daughter already, and another daughter to come. The family later moved to the Toronto area.
Hayden began his acting career as a fluke when he had to tag along with his sister who was looking for a talent agent. The agent saw something in her younger brother, and Hayden started work in commercials. By age 12, Hayden had a regular role on the hour-long Canadian soap opera Family Passions. From there Hayden moved onto many television appearances and film roles including the 1998 film Strike and the Kevin Kline film Life as a House where he played George Monroe's (Kline) teenaged son Sam. Before the Star Wars announcement Hayden had a major role in the Fox Family Channel series Higher Ground, but the announcement came just in time as the show was doubtful for a second season return.
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Tom Green
Tom Green has earned more and more fame since first being posted on The Canadian Celebrities Site in 1999. At that point he was a spokesperson for Pepsi One and was just completing his first (or perhaps second?) season on MTV. Since then his television show, aptly named The Tom Green Show, has had continued sucess and he has appeared in several films and had a Hollywood marriage and divorce with Drew Barrymore.
Tom was born in Pembroke, Ontario on July 30, 1971. At that time his parents were not yet aware of the terror that this child would put them through. In high school (and definitely before as well) Tom amused his classmates and annoyed his teachers with his antics. In 1987, while still in high school at Colonel By Secondary School in Gloucester, Ontario, Tom and friend Phil Giroux tried their hands at stand-up at the Yuk Yuks comedy club in Ottawa.
Tom graduated from high school in 1990 and later that year began hosting the Rap Show on the University of Ottawa's radio station CHUO-fm. In 1992 the rap-trio which Tom was a member of releases their first (and only) CD Stiffenin against the wall. Most Canadians recognize the song/video Check the OR from it's play on MuchMusic. Three years after first hosting the Rap Show it becomes The Midnight Caller with a talk/comedy format.
In 1994 The Tom Green show is first aired on Rogers 22 in Ottawa, Ontario. This was a non-paying gig through cable access television that lasted for two seasons and had Tom recognized all over Ottawa. From this The Tom Green Show was soon to be put on national television. A pilot was done for the CBC in 1996 but a series with them did not play out. In 1997 the show was picked up by The Comedy Network. The show was seen nationally in Canada for two seasons... but with plenty of repeats.
The first show to air on MTV was in January of 1999, and it has just continued from there. Tom has since played a small part in a few films. This includes the film Superstar and Charlie's Angels. He also starred in the films Road Trip, and Freddy Got Fingered which he not only acted in, but also made his directorial debut with. Most recently Tom co-starred in the film Stealing Harvard directed by fellow Canadian and comedian Bruce McCulloch.
Christopher Plummer
Actor extraordinaire he played the father in the film The Sound of Music as well as a kazillion other roles. Last fall he played the part of King Lear at the famed Stratford Festival.
Christopher was born in Toronto, Ontario on December thirteenth, 1937.
Rick Mercer
Born in St. John's Newfoundland in 1969, Rick Mercer was brought to the spotlight in Canada through his role as co-host on the CBC show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. He became quite popular through his regular segments Talking to Americans and Streeter his weekly rant.
Before and since his role on the show he has had several successful one-man shows tour the country. His success on This Hour Has 22 Minutes has lead to several other successful endevours. He has published a compilation of his rants called Streeters: Rants And Raves: From This Hour Has 22 Minutes, he is a co-star on the television show Made in Canada as Richard Strong, his segment Talking to Americans was made into a one-hour television special and he also hosts It Seems Like Yesterday which can be found on the Canadian chanel History Television.
Michael Ironside
Michael Ironside has made a career of playing killers, psychos and other heavies. He is a delight to watch as emotions glide across his face. With a word, a smile, a growl, or a lift of those wonderful eyebrows, he tells you exactly what he is thinking.
Michael was born in Toronto, Canada on February 12, 1950. The oldest of five children, Michael credits his father for encouraging his fantasy life. A voracious reader, he consumed "Moby Dick" at age 7, and won a playwriting award in high school while holding a night job to help support his family. He has dabbled in art, writing and movie making, but found his nitch in acting. He received a Genie Award nomination for his supporting role in the 1980 movie "Scanners". A year later he moved to Hollywood. He has appeared in over 45 TV and feature films including "V" The Series, "Extreme Prejudice", "Top Gun", "Total Recall", "Highlander II", "The Glass Shield", TV's "ER", and "SEAQUEST 2032". His latest role is in the scifi thriller "Starship Trooper" to be released in November. He once had this to say about his roles "If you hit one old lady in the head with a shovel early in your career and do it well, that's the way you're are going to get hired." He has been described by those who know him as a sweet, generous, caring and compassionate person and personally admits to being anti- war, anti-guns, and non-violent. Thank you to Patrish for creating this entry.
Matthew Perry
As well as continuing in his Friends character Chandler Bing, Matthew has been increasingly working on the big screen. In the film The Whole Nine Yards Perry co-stars with Bruce Willis and fellow Canadian Natasha Henstridge as a meek Montreal dentist. More recently he starred in Serving Sara with Elizabeth Hurley.
Matthew grew up in Ottawa (the nations capital) and was the area's #2 ranked jr. tennis player at age 13. At age 15 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in tennis. He quickly found out that it was not to be, and acting became his passion. He made guest appearances on many sitcoms including Growing Pains, Charles in Charge, and Silver Spoons. He had a small part in the River Phoenix film A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon in 1988 and She's Out of Control in 1989. His first leading role was in Fools Rush In, which opened in 1997.
Martin Short
Martin is an SCTV alumni who also spent some time on Saturday Night Live (1984-1985). He has appeared in many films including Jungle 2 Jungle, Father of The Bride (I & II), Three Fugitives, and Three Amigos. More recently he has been working as the star of the show Primetime Glick as Jiminy Glick and in Short Shorts on the Biography Channel.
Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd has been involved with all sorts of ventures. He was first known to most from his role on Saturday Night Live (as in pic to the left). His first appearance in a movie was in The Blues Brothers. Since then he has made numerous appearances on the big screen including Ghostbusters I, and II, Dragnet, Sneakers, The Great Outdoors, Coneheads, My Girl (I & II), Driving Miss Daisy, Grosse Pointe Blank, and Blues Brothers 2000. He now runs the House of Blues clubs, concerts and hosts their "House of Blues Radio Hour".
Mike Myers
Mike was born in Scarbourough, Ontario, in 1963. At some point he joined Second City in Toronto. He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1989-1994, where he played many characters. Including: Linda Richman, Dieter from Sprockets, Angus in All Things Scottish, Pat Arnold of Bill Swerski's Super Fans, Simon, Middle Age Man, and Wayne Campbell.
His character Wayne Campbell made a big splash in movie theatres across North America alongside Dana Carvey's Garth in the film Wayne's World, which Mike also co-wrote. His next big screen appearance was in the sequel, Wayne's World 2, which he also co-wrote, but unfortunately was not as successful as the original.
Next is my favorite Myers film, So I Married An Axe Murderer. He not only played two characters in the film (Stuart and Charlie MacKenzie), he also co-wrote the script. This was a hilarious, fun film. A must see. Mike's popularity with the Austin Powers films has exploded. He's played multiple characters including Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard and Goldmember. He wrote on and produced all three films. Mike Myers has also gotten a younger fan base with his role a the voice of Shrek in the animated film of the same name.
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Howie Mandel
You've got to know this guy. Picture a guy with fluffy hair with a surgeon's glove on his head. Still don't know? He's a comedian. You might recognize his alter ego Bobby. Bobby is this little kid's voice he does. It was so popular it's now the central character on a cartoon called Bobby's World. Howie had his own talk show for a while, but that didn't last. Lately he's been spotted with a completely bald, shaved head in restaurant commercials.
Scott Bairstow
This young actor hails from Winnipeg and has been acting since age 10. He starred in the film White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf and the television series Lonesome Dove. Shortly after finding out the series was cancelled he found out he got a part in the movie Wild America with Jonathan Taylor Thomas and fellow Canadian Devon Sawa. Scott also landed the role of Miles Tuck in the recently released to video/DVD film Tuck Everlasting.
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer was the firstborn of twins. He lived in Los Angeles, with his parents (Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas) until their divorce. Then he and his sister moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada with their mother. At 9 years, he appeared on stage for the first time in a production called Throne of Straw.
Kiefer dropped out of school at age 15 to persue a career in acting. He had preformed in a number of stage productions. He made his film debut as a walk-on named "Bill" in Max Duggan Returns which starred his father. Shortly after, he earned his first starring role in The Bay Boy , A coming-of-age drama. His preformance earned him great critical acclaim, as well as a nomination for a Genie Award.
He then moved to California, and lived in his car on the beach in Santa Monica while trying to make a name for himself. A member of the screen Actor's Guild; he held small roles in At Close Range, Stand By Me, and made for television movies; The Mission, Trapped In Silence, and Brother Hood of Justice. He has been acting ever since.
In April 1996 as well as starring in, Kiefer directed a feature film for the first time, Truth or Conseqences N.M..
Kiefer's family was quite involved in politics, particularly on his mother's (Shirley) side. Kiefer is now starring on the second season of the ground-breaking television show 24 and well as a main role in the recently released film Phone Booth
Jim Carrey
Funnyman Jim Carey overcame a difficult childhood to become the character he is today. He was raised in Scarborough (near Toronto) where his family encountered financial difficulties that forced him to grow up too fast. As a teenager he made his first appearance as a stand-up comic at Yuk-Yuks.
Jim Carrey's first film was as a vampire's prey in Once Bitten 1985. He later was given the opportunity to show off his comedic talents on the popular television show In Living Color, as one of the few caucasian cast members, through a connection to Damon Wayans who was a co-star in the 1989 film Earth Girls Are Easy.
From television he moved to his funny role as Ace Ventura and to the films we all recognize him in today:
The Mask
Dumb & Dumber
Batman Forever
The Cable Guy
Liar Liar
The Truman Show
Man on the Moon
Me, Myself & Irene
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The Majestic
Matt Frewer
Best known as portraying the character Max Headroom. He also played the main character in the sitcom Doctor, Doctor (which was a favorite of mine when it was on the air). I've also been told he was in the movie Lawnmowerman II. Last I heard of him he was the Pink Panther's voice on a cartoon, as well as an actor on the show PSI Factor.
Alan Thicke
Alan was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario (no, not actually in a lake). He starred in the Alan Thicke Show on CTV and later went on to play Jason Seaver on Growing Pains. Also back in 1983 he had a talk show called Thicke of the Night which lasted for about a year. In 1995 he played Dennis Dupree on the sitcom Hope and Gloria, and later hosted the game show Pictionary.
Phil Hartman
Phil was born in Brantford, Ontario September 24, 1948. He was killed May 28, 1998, at the age of 49.
Phil had done some acting in high school but he had seen the tough time his brother had trying to make it and decided to try a different career path. He majored in graphic design and spent 8 years designing 40 to 50 album covers, as well as advertisements and company logos before he switched over to acting and comedy.
In 1975 joined the comedy troupe The Groundlings which included Paul Reuben. He later became a regular on Paul's show Pee Wee's Playhouse and co-wrote the film Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
In 1986 Phil joined Saturday Night Live where he performed for eight seasons. He may be best remembered for this time where he played such characters as: Frank Sinatra, Saddam Hussein, Charlton Heston, Phil Donahue, Jack Nicholson, Ed McMahon, and The Anal Retentive.....(Chef, Carpenter, Sportsman).
Phil left Saturday Night Live in 1994 and took on the role of Bill McNeal on the show News Radio with fellow Canadian Dave Foley. He also made frequent guest appearances on The Simpsons as Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz among other characters.
Throughout his years in showbiz he was part of many films including Three Amigos, Coneheads, Jingle All the Way, Sgt. Bilko and Small Soldiers.
Michael J. Fox
Michael was born Michael Andrew Fox on June 9, 1961 to Phyllis and William Fox in Edmonton, Alberta. Michael's father worked in the Canadian Armed Forces, which entailed many moves for the family. At William's retirement in 1971 the family settled in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Michael made his professional acting debut on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's sitcom Leo and Me at age 15. Most of us first took notice of Michael on the sitcom Family Ties as the yuppie-wannabe Alex P. Keaton. While a cast member of Family Ties he also started his extensive work on the big screen with projects such as Teen Wolf and the Back to the Future series of films. It was during his time on Family Ties that Michael met his future wife Tracy Pollan. They were married in the summer of 1988.
When Family Ties ended its run in 1989 Michael continued his work on the big screen. He was seen in films like Doc Hollywood, For Love or Money, Greedy and The American President. In 1996 Michael teamed up again with Family Ties creator Gary David Goldberg for the sitcom Spin City. He spent 4 years playing Mike Flaherty, deputy Mayor of New York on Spin City.
Michael found out in 1991 that he had Parkinson's disease. While he worked many years while having it, it started to put too much of a strain on him. After having publicly announced that he had Parkinsons in a December 1998 magazine article, he announced his decision to leave his role as Mike Flaherty in January 2000. Today Michael is working on raising money and awareness for Parkinsons, but has not retired completely from his acting career. He has founded a foundation for research aptly named the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Michael and Tracy are still married and now have three children (1 pair of twins).
Related...
Leslie Nielsen
When most people think of Leslie Nielsen these days they think of his character Lt. Frank Drebin from the Naked Gun film series. However, there was a point in his career where he was considered quite the serious actor, and typecast as such. Leslie Nielsen has made numerous appearances in film and on television throughout his career. According the Internet Movie DataBase he has made over 90 such appearances since 1955 in The Battle of Gettysburg.
Nielsen was born on February 11, 1926 in Regina, Saskatchewan. He was raised in Fort Norman in the Yukon where his father was a mountie (RCMP).
Some of his more recent film appearances include: The Naked Gun films, Surf Ninjas, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Spy Hard, Mr. Magoo, and Men With Brooms.
Additionally, Leslie's brother Eric Nielsen was a member of Canadian Parliament from 1957 to 1987 and was our Deputy Prime Minister under Brian Mulroney from 1984 to 1986.
Roy Dupuis
Apparently quite the popular and sexy guy. The Internet Movie Database claims that he skydives as a hobby (not only sexy, but a risk taker too!
).
Roy was born in Abtibi, Quebec on April 21st 1963 and spent his childhood in Kapuskasing, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. Roy's multilingual childhood is reflected in his acting roles. He has been in (and continues to act in) many French and English productions for film and on television.
Roy began his acting career around 1988 and was a part of several well-received small films in the early 1990s. Most people will recognize Roy from the television series La Femme Nikita (a.k.a. Nikita) which can be seen on several continents.
For more information on Roy Dupuis visit one of his many fan sites:
About Roy Dupuis
The Roy Dupuis Page
A Multi-lingual Roy Dupuis Site
MS4 Roy Dupuis
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Actors & Comedians
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Graham Greene
Graham was born on June 22, 1952 on the Six Nations Reserve just outside of Brantford, Ontario. In 1974 he graduated from The Centre for Indigenous Theatre's Native Theatre School program. In the 1980s he began to get some acting roles but really burst onto the big screen with his role as Kicking Bird in the 1990 Kevin Costner film Dances With Wolves.
Since then he has made numerous appearances on the big and little screen as varied as X-Files, The Red Green Show, The Green Mile and Die Hard. Graham's latest film is Duct Tape Forever.
Joshua Jackson
This native Vancouverite was born June 11, 1978. Many people first took note of him on the big screen in the Mighty Ducks films which centered around the great sport of hockey.
His next move to make people sit up and take note was his continuing role as Pacey Witter on the television show Dawson's Creek. Now know as a teen heartthrob he's been in many successful teen films over the last few years. They include: Scream 2, Urban Legend, Cruel Intentions and most recently a couple of great roles in The Skulls and Gossip.
Related...
Donald Sutherland
Born July 17,1934 in Saint John, New Brunswick, he has had a long and successful career. We all know his son Kiefer Sutherland. Here are some films you may remember Donald from: The Dirty Dozen, MASH (the movie), National Lampoon's Animal House, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, JFK, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Six Degrees of Separation, Outbreak, and A Time to Kill.
Raymond Burr
Raymond Burr was born on the twenty-first of May, 1917 in New Westminister, British Columbia. He passed away on September twelfth, 1993. Although he played numerous roles over his life, he is probably best known for his role as lawyer Perry Mason, which he first played in 1957 and continued to play up until his death. He also is remembered for his starring role in the 1960s/70s television show Ironside.
David James Elliot
Although he now plays a lawyer for the United States Military weekly in the series JAG, David James Elliot's roots are definitely Canadian. David was born on September 21, 1960, in Milton (a small suburb Toronto), Ontario. He grew up in Milton, but spent much time in the Bahamas, as most of his father's relatives lived there.
David's early interest was in music. He was front man for a number of bands, or just one band with many different monikers. David briefly quit high school to pursue music full time. The bands kept breaking up and he eventually got fed up. At 19 he went back to finish high school. During a class where King Lear was being studied David read the part of Lear. Upon hearing him his teacher encouraged him to consider the possibilities of a career in acting.
He followed up his high school completion with the theatre school at Polytechnic University in Toronto. He went on to become a member of the Young Company of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival. While part of the company, he won the Jean Chalmers Award as Most Promising Actor.
He went on to play the role of Dick the Male Stripper in B Movie: The Play, in Toronto. Through this performance he was noted by one of the producers of CBC's Street Legal. David was auditioned for and won the role of Nick Del Gado, a Toronto police detective.
Street Legal proved to be a breakthrough for David. The producers kept giving him more to do, and he kept improving, so that by 1988-89, he had achieved co-star status, and became somewhat of a household name in Canada (named Flare magazine's Bachelor of the Year). In 1990, with the offer of a development deal from Disney, David made the move to Los Angeles. However, it required him to ad the 'James' to his name because there was already a 'David Elliot' in the Screen Actors Guild.
The development deal with Disney fell through. David found other roles, but nothing that brought him stardom.
In 1995 he landed the role of Lt. Harmon Rabb Jr., which has since made him the well-known actor he is today. David is now in his eighth season on JAG.
Jason Priestly
Jason came to the attention of fans all over the world through his role as Brandon Walsh on Beverly Hills 90210. He co-starred in the film Calendar Girl and Love and Death in Long Island. He appears to have left acting behind him but has stayed in the entertainment business taking on roles include directing, producing and auto racing.
Norm MacDonald
One of our great comedians from the Great White North. He first came to fame hosting the fake news on Saturday Night Live. After leaving SNL he starred in his own sitcom appropriately titled The Norm Show. Since the end of his sitcom he has had small roles in several films including Man on the Moon, Screwed, and Dr. Doolittle.
Originally from Quebec City, Norm started his career in comedy working as a stand-up comic. After working the Canadian curcuit he moved to Los Angeles and became a writer on the sitcom Roseanne. From there he moved on to Saturday Night Live where he gained a wide following.
William Shatner
Mr. Shatner is definitely best known for his role as Capt. James T. Kirk on the Star Trek series and films. Today, in addition to poking fun at himself through roles on Third Rock form the Sun and in Priceline commercials, he spends time authoring TekWar books.
James Doohan
This World War II pilot turned actor is best known for his portrayal of Scotty on the original Star Trek series, which he last played in the film Generations. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, but grew up in Sarnia, Ontario.
Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on February 12, 1915. He passed away on September 11, 1987. He began his career as a radio broadcaster. While at the CBC he was given the nickname The Voice of Doom due to the combination of the depressing World War II news he broadcasted on the air and his booming voice. Lorne later moved onto acting and is best remembered for his roles as Ben Cartwright on the show Bonanza and Commander Adama on Battlestar Galactica.
Rich Little
This son of a doctor was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on the twenty-sixth of November, 1938. In addition to a multitude of performances on television and in film as a comedian and impressionist, he portrayed Johnny Carson in the 1996 film The Late Shift.
Michael Mahonen
Michael Mahonen was born in 1964 on the twenty-seventh of April in the northern Ontario city of Kirkland Lake. His first step into the world of acting was during grade seven when he dedicatedly attended an acting class. The class ended abruptly and Michael didn't really feel the nibble of the acting bug again until after high school.
Out of high school he attended Northern College, where he did a little soul-searching and determined that the path he was heading on there did not truly fit his desires. This prompted him to take some time off of school to mull over his future. He took a chance by auditioning for the Theatre Arts program at George Brown College in Toronto. He was accepted and graduated from the program in 1989. For the next year or so he took roles on stage in various productions around Canada.
In 1990 Michael made his first appearance as Gus Pike on the classic CBC television series The Road to Avonlea. The original intent of the writers was to have the Gus Pike character appear in only a few episodes. Michael proved so popular that until the final season of the show the character's involvement on the series ranged from occasional to every episode. Some of the breaks from the show were prompted by Michael's ventures into other opportunities. While Michael's role as Gus Pike earned him 3 Gemini nominations, it was his role a Lee Cogan on the CBC miniseries Conspiracy of Silence that earned him a Gemini Award for the 1993 Awards.
Since the conclusion of the Avonlea series Michael has continued to pursue his career south of the border with roles on television and screen but still kept his strong Avonlea following.
Brendan Fraser
Brendan currently holds dual citizenship as an American and a Canadian. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A., where his father was stationed as a foreign service officer for the Canadian Government Office of Tourism, on December 3, 1968. Because of his father's position, Brendan grew up all around including Holland, Switzerland, the U.S., and Canada. He went to school at the Upper Canada College in Toronto, Ontario, as well as the Cornish College of Arts in Seattle.
Brendan got his big break in the 1992 film Encino Man. Since then he's appeared in quite a few films; some as a goof (George of the Jungle, Airheads, Dudley Do-Right, and Monkeybone), some as a preppy-type (With Honours, and Mrs. Winterbourne), a few as a more serious type (The Quiet American and The Mummy) and some I've never heard of (The Passion of Darkly Noon, The Scout, and The Proffesional Man).
Colin Mochrie
Most people closely identify Coline Mochrie with his work on the improvisation show Who's Line is it Anyway?
He was born on November thirtieth, 1957 in Kilmarnock, Scotland. He and his family moved to Montreal, Quebec in 1964 and then onto Vancouver, British Columbia in 1969. He involved himself in improv work through the Vancouver Theatresports league. Later on, after a move to Toronto, he became a member of the comedy troupe Second City.
In addition to his fame stemming from the British and American versions of the Who's Line is it Anyway? he has made appearances on the silver screen in several films as well as a slew of guest appearances on the small screen including The Drew Carey Show. Additionally he has been keeping himself busy for the last couple of years on the CBC satiral news show This Hour Has 22 Minutes where he took over for Rick Mercer.
Keanu Reeves
Keanu was born in Beirut, Lebanon on September 2, 1964 to a British mother and a father of Hawaiian-Chinese decent. His name in Hawaiian means cool breeze over the mountains. When Keanu's parents divorced he moved with his mother to New York where she met director Paul Aaron. They all moved to Toronto, and became Canadian citizens (which Keanu still is). Keanu has lived in Lebanon, Australia, New York, Toronto, and now California.
Keanu dropped out of school at 17 to pursue acting. Although Keanu had been acting professionally for several years already, the film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was where Keanu first really got noticed by the movie-going public. Keanu's career since has had many ups and downs. He's acted in several small cult-like films such as My Own Private Idaho, Little Buddha and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues a few others which didn't do nearly as well in the box office as anticipated such as Johnny Mnemonic and had a few blockbusters as action-hero types in Speed and The Matrix. These days he's on a big upswing with the follow-ups to The Matrix greatly-anticipated by many movie-goers.
View Keanu's full filmography and links to fans sites at The Canadian Celebrities Site's Keanu Reeves Related... page
Paul Gross
Paul was an army brat born in Calgary, Alberta. He went to school in England, Germany, Washington D.C., and the University of Alberta.
After university he did some stage acting as well as writing some plays of his own. His first play, The Deer and the Antelope Play, won the Clifford E. Lee National Playwrighting Award and the Alberta Cultural Playwrighting Award (1982). After a few more plays he was invited to be the playwright-in-residence for the Stratford Festival. He's written quite few plays, and a few television episodes as well, which have all been very well received.
Of course he now has plenty of acting experience as well. He is widely known for his part as Constable Benton Fraser on the television series Due South which can still be found on TNT in the U.S. and on Showcase in Canada. More recently he acted, wrote, and directed the film Men With Brooms that also starred Leslie Nielsen.
John Candy
This SCTV alumni passed away in 1994. He was a brilliant comedian who appeared in many great films including: The Blues Brothers, Heavy Metal (voice), Stripes, National Lampoon's Vacation, Splash, The Canadian Conspiracy, Armed and Dangerous, Little Shop of Horrors, Spaceballs, Planes Trains and Automobiles, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, Who's Harry Crumb, Delirious, JFK, Only The Lonely, Once Upon A Crime, Cool Runnings, Wagon's East, and Canadian Bacon.
Thomas Cavanagh
I first took notice of Thomas Cavanagh in Speedy Muffler commercials a few years back. Today he stars on the popular NBC show Ed where he plays a lawyer come bowling-alley owner.
But let's step back a moment here. Tom was born in Ottawa, Ontario on October 26, 1968 and was soon to be the second-oldest of five siblings. His family moved to Ghana, Africa when he was just a small child. Summers were spent in Europe. His parents worked as educators, his father educating the local teachers in up-to-date methods, while his mother taught the local students. The family returned to Canada before Tom's high school years and landed in Lennoxville, Quebec. Tom went on from there to go to Queens University where he received degrees in English, Biology and Education while also participating as a member of the basketball team.
How Tom's interest in acting grew is unclear, but apparently playing Danny Zuko in a production of Grease solidified the notion. This work was followed up by more in the theatre, as well in memorable national commercial spots for Speedy, Oh Henry and Labatt's Beer among others. He later was taken on for a re-occuring role on the Canadian series Jake and the Kid
In 1999 Tom moved to L.A. He landed the role of Ed on a pilot called Stuckeyville for CBS and landed a re-occuring role as "Doug" on the series Providence. While Providence raised his profile, his role of Ed has brought him a lot of attention these days. CBS didn't pick up Stuckeyville, but NBC did, and changed its name to Ed.
Ed can be seen on NBC on Friday nights. Tom has maintained his home in L.A. while the show Ed shoots in New York.
Related...
Scott Speedman
This native Torontonian started his venture into acting at age 18 when he went on Speaker's Corner and offered himself up to play the part of Boy Wonder in Batman Forever when the casting director for it was in town. He didn't get the part, but he made an impression and got himself an agent.
He's now 27 and gained fame co-starring on the show Felicity as Ben. Before his overnight success as Ben he had a few parts here and there, and more recently got attention for his role with Gwyneth Paltrow in the film Duets.
Joseph Wiseman
He played Dr. No in the Bond film of the same name.
Kids in the Hall
The Kids in the Hall were a Canadian comedy troupe whose television show aired on HBO, Comedy Central, CBS, and the CBC over several years. The troupe (David Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson) decided to stop production of their show after five seasons (from 1989-1995, and a total of 10 years together as a troupe), to pursue other things. Members have since been on The Larry Sanders Show, Saturday Night Live, News Radio and various films. They also released a motion picture in 1996 called Brain Candy.
Dave Foley
Dave, who starred as Dave Nelson on the television show News Radio, was born January 4, 1963 in Toronto.
Most people are aware that before his part on News Radio as Dave Nelson, that he was a member of the Canadian comedy troupe The Kids in The Hall who had their own television show with a little help from Lorne Michaels. The show was carried in Canada and the U.S. and can still be seen in re-runs on the Comedy Network in Canada. I have recently found out that Dave was also a part of Second City (although not SCTV).
Since the end of the series News Radio, a year after Phil Hartman's death, he has taken on roles in various films and television shows. He played a straight-laced-crewcutted member of Richard Nixon's staff in the film Dick, as well as an interesting character in the film Blast from the Past with fellow Canadian Brendan Fraser.
Scott Thompson
Scott is often referred to as "the gay guy" of Kids In The Hall. After the end of their series he went onto the Larry Sanders Show as Brian and later several small, but still funny, roles in film.
Bruce McCulloch
The Kids In The Hall member best known as Kathy the secretary, or maybe as that rock singer guy. For a few years before their show, and a short while after, he was employed as a writer for Saturday Night Live. He has a CD out, pretty funny, titled SHAME-BASED MAN.
Bruce has been keeping himself busy in a variety of roles including director, writer, and a few small acting roles. Keep an eye out in the video stores for his film Dog Park as well as his protrayal of a reporter in the film Dick.
Kevin McDonald
He's the awesome guy with the big hair from Kids In The Hall. Since they've stopped working together regularly he's taken on a variety of acting roles on television and in film including National Lampoons Senior Trip, The Wrong Guy, Galaxy Quest and That 70s Show.
Mark McKinney
I'm crushing your head, I'm crushing your head. Yes, he was the Head Crusher of Kids in The Hall. And let's not forget the Chicken Lady too. This Ottawa native was on Saturday Night Live in late 1995 for about a year or so and has since been in several films including Spice World, A Night at the Roxbury, Superstar, and The Ladies Man.
Mark Lutz
This up and coming Canadian actor has had many small roles on television and a few on the silver screen as well. More prominently he's had a recurring role on the series Angel as Groosalugg, in March he played Mona's boyfriend on an episode of Friends and many Canadians will recognize him from his starring role on the CTV movie Power Play as Jukka Branny-Acke a.k.a. Brainiac.
Mark was born on Valentine's Day in Montreal, Quebec where he grew up until the age of thirteen when his family moved to Hong Kong for nearly five years. Upon his return to Canada the family moved to Toronto where he completed his high school education. He then went on to earn a Honors B.A. in Political Science at the University of Guelph.
After his graduation from Guelph he moved into the field of entertainment. He started through working in improvisation, and from there acquired an agent and moved into acting. In January of 2001 Mark relocated to Los Angeles from Toronto. This move has helped him acquire roles such as Groosalugg on Angel which he landed only two months after arriving in the city.
Bob & Doug McKenzie
Bob & Doug were characters Rick Moranis (Bob), and Dave Thomas (Doug) played on the show SCTV. Their skit "The Great White North" was such a hit they made an album in 1981, then a movie in 1983 called Strange Brew. They won two Juno awards and a Grammy Nomination for their Bob & Doug McKenzie:Great White North Album, and a Golden Reel Award for Strange Brew.
Dave Thomas
No, I'm not talking about the Wendy's guy. This is the hosehead from the Great White North. There was some talk of a another film starring Bob & Doug McKenzie, but not much word lately. Dave was on SCTV, and now can be seen in reruns as the pharmacist on Grace Under Fire.
Nicholas Lea
Nicholas Lea is known by most people from his role as FBI Special Agent Alex Krycek on the television series The X-Files. He started out life June 22, 1962 in New Westminster, B.C. and had an interesting time before he started acting at age 25. He was the lead singer of an alternative band titled Beau Monde for five years, served in the Navy for two years and even went to art school!
Nick's acting credits include recurring roles on John Woo's Once A Thief as Victor Mansfield and The Commish as Officer Ricky Caruso as well as guest appearances on numerous series including The Outer Limits & Sliders.
Steve Smith
Steve Smith was born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in the suburbs. In 1978 he and his wife began their television show Smith & Smith which had a successful run on Canadian television for about 9 years. Steve now stars, produces, and co-writes the Red Green Show. The show has spun off a few other successful enterprises including a book, a movie, and a spokemanship for duct tape.
Maury Chaykin
Upon seeing his face you know him... but from where? Maury has had numerous memorable, but small, roles in many big screen hits. Some remember him most vividly from Dances with Wolves where he played the crazed Major Fambrough who sent Kevin Costner to the frontier before committing suicide. Some others will remember him a the kind-hearted lawyer in Mystery Alaska. These days he can be seen on a regular basis on A&E as the title character in the series Nero Wolfe. The show started as a set of televised films and has moved to a weekly series format.
Maury was born on July 27, 1949 and reports vary as to whether he was born in Brooklyn, New York or somewhere in Ontario and moved shortly thereafter to Brooklyn. His mother is Canadian and father American. He has worked in Canada since 1974 he currently lives in Toronto and holds dual Canadian-American citizenship. Maury has received plenty of praise for his work in Canada. He won a Nellie Award in 1986, a Genie Award in 1995 for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Whale Music as well as a Gemini Award for Best Actor in a Guest Lead for his part on La Femme Nikita.
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Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen was chosen to play Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader for Episodes 2 and 3 of the Star Wars franchise. While Hayden has been acting since he was a young child, it was this announcement that brought his talent to the attention of movie goers everywhere. Hayden was born Sterling Hayden Christensen in Vancouver, BC on April 19, 1981 into a family with a son and daughter already, and another daughter to come. The family later moved to the Toronto area.
Hayden began his acting career as a fluke when he had to tag along with his sister who was looking for a talent agent. The agent saw something in her younger brother, and Hayden started work in commercials. By age 12, Hayden had a regular role on the hour-long Canadian soap opera Family Passions. From there Hayden moved onto many television appearances and film roles including the 1998 film Strike and the Kevin Kline film Life as a House where he played George Monroe's (Kline) teenaged son Sam. Before the Star Wars announcement Hayden had a major role in the Fox Family Channel series Higher Ground, but the announcement came just in time as the show was doubtful for a second season return.
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Tom Green
Tom Green has earned more and more fame since first being posted on The Canadian Celebrities Site in 1999. At that point he was a spokesperson for Pepsi One and was just completing his first (or perhaps second?) season on MTV. Since then his television show, aptly named The Tom Green Show, has had continued sucess and he has appeared in several films and had a Hollywood marriage and divorce with Drew Barrymore.
Tom was born in Pembroke, Ontario on July 30, 1971. At that time his parents were not yet aware of the terror that this child would put them through. In high school (and definitely before as well) Tom amused his classmates and annoyed his teachers with his antics. In 1987, while still in high school at Colonel By Secondary School in Gloucester, Ontario, Tom and friend Phil Giroux tried their hands at stand-up at the Yuk Yuks comedy club in Ottawa.
Tom graduated from high school in 1990 and later that year began hosting the Rap Show on the University of Ottawa's radio station CHUO-fm. In 1992 the rap-trio which Tom was a member of releases their first (and only) CD Stiffenin against the wall. Most Canadians recognize the song/video Check the OR from it's play on MuchMusic. Three years after first hosting the Rap Show it becomes The Midnight Caller with a talk/comedy format.
In 1994 The Tom Green show is first aired on Rogers 22 in Ottawa, Ontario. This was a non-paying gig through cable access television that lasted for two seasons and had Tom recognized all over Ottawa. From this The Tom Green Show was soon to be put on national television. A pilot was done for the CBC in 1996 but a series with them did not play out. In 1997 the show was picked up by The Comedy Network. The show was seen nationally in Canada for two seasons... but with plenty of repeats.
The first show to air on MTV was in January of 1999, and it has just continued from there. Tom has since played a small part in a few films. This includes the film Superstar and Charlie's Angels. He also starred in the films Road Trip, and Freddy Got Fingered which he not only acted in, but also made his directorial debut with. Most recently Tom co-starred in the film Stealing Harvard directed by fellow Canadian and comedian Bruce McCulloch.
Christopher Plummer
Actor extraordinaire he played the father in the film The Sound of Music as well as a kazillion other roles. Last fall he played the part of King Lear at the famed Stratford Festival.
Christopher was born in Toronto, Ontario on December thirteenth, 1937.
Rick Mercer
Born in St. John's Newfoundland in 1969, Rick Mercer was brought to the spotlight in Canada through his role as co-host on the CBC show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. He became quite popular through his regular segments Talking to Americans and Streeter his weekly rant.
Before and since his role on the show he has had several successful one-man shows tour the country. His success on This Hour Has 22 Minutes has lead to several other successful endevours. He has published a compilation of his rants called Streeters: Rants And Raves: From This Hour Has 22 Minutes, he is a co-star on the television show Made in Canada as Richard Strong, his segment Talking to Americans was made into a one-hour television special and he also hosts It Seems Like Yesterday which can be found on the Canadian chanel History Television.
Michael Ironside
Michael Ironside has made a career of playing killers, psychos and other heavies. He is a delight to watch as emotions glide across his face. With a word, a smile, a growl, or a lift of those wonderful eyebrows, he tells you exactly what he is thinking.
Michael was born in Toronto, Canada on February 12, 1950. The oldest of five children, Michael credits his father for encouraging his fantasy life. A voracious reader, he consumed "Moby Dick" at age 7, and won a playwriting award in high school while holding a night job to help support his family. He has dabbled in art, writing and movie making, but found his nitch in acting. He received a Genie Award nomination for his supporting role in the 1980 movie "Scanners". A year later he moved to Hollywood. He has appeared in over 45 TV and feature films including "V" The Series, "Extreme Prejudice", "Top Gun", "Total Recall", "Highlander II", "The Glass Shield", TV's "ER", and "SEAQUEST 2032". His latest role is in the scifi thriller "Starship Trooper" to be released in November. He once had this to say about his roles "If you hit one old lady in the head with a shovel early in your career and do it well, that's the way you're are going to get hired." He has been described by those who know him as a sweet, generous, caring and compassionate person and personally admits to being anti- war, anti-guns, and non-violent. Thank you to Patrish for creating this entry.
Matthew Perry
As well as continuing in his Friends character Chandler Bing, Matthew has been increasingly working on the big screen. In the film The Whole Nine Yards Perry co-stars with Bruce Willis and fellow Canadian Natasha Henstridge as a meek Montreal dentist. More recently he starred in Serving Sara with Elizabeth Hurley.
Matthew grew up in Ottawa (the nations capital) and was the area's #2 ranked jr. tennis player at age 13. At age 15 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in tennis. He quickly found out that it was not to be, and acting became his passion. He made guest appearances on many sitcoms including Growing Pains, Charles in Charge, and Silver Spoons. He had a small part in the River Phoenix film A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon in 1988 and She's Out of Control in 1989. His first leading role was in Fools Rush In, which opened in 1997.
Martin Short
Martin is an SCTV alumni who also spent some time on Saturday Night Live (1984-1985). He has appeared in many films including Jungle 2 Jungle, Father of The Bride (I & II), Three Fugitives, and Three Amigos. More recently he has been working as the star of the show Primetime Glick as Jiminy Glick and in Short Shorts on the Biography Channel.
Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd has been involved with all sorts of ventures. He was first known to most from his role on Saturday Night Live (as in pic to the left). His first appearance in a movie was in The Blues Brothers. Since then he has made numerous appearances on the big screen including Ghostbusters I, and II, Dragnet, Sneakers, The Great Outdoors, Coneheads, My Girl (I & II), Driving Miss Daisy, Grosse Pointe Blank, and Blues Brothers 2000. He now runs the House of Blues clubs, concerts and hosts their "House of Blues Radio Hour".
Mike Myers
Mike was born in Scarbourough, Ontario, in 1963. At some point he joined Second City in Toronto. He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1989-1994, where he played many characters. Including: Linda Richman, Dieter from Sprockets, Angus in All Things Scottish, Pat Arnold of Bill Swerski's Super Fans, Simon, Middle Age Man, and Wayne Campbell.
His character Wayne Campbell made a big splash in movie theatres across North America alongside Dana Carvey's Garth in the film Wayne's World, which Mike also co-wrote. His next big screen appearance was in the sequel, Wayne's World 2, which he also co-wrote, but unfortunately was not as successful as the original.
Next is my favorite Myers film, So I Married An Axe Murderer. He not only played two characters in the film (Stuart and Charlie MacKenzie), he also co-wrote the script. This was a hilarious, fun film. A must see. Mike's popularity with the Austin Powers films has exploded. He's played multiple characters including Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard and Goldmember. He wrote on and produced all three films. Mike Myers has also gotten a younger fan base with his role a the voice of Shrek in the animated film of the same name.
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Howie Mandel
You've got to know this guy. Picture a guy with fluffy hair with a surgeon's glove on his head. Still don't know? He's a comedian. You might recognize his alter ego Bobby. Bobby is this little kid's voice he does. It was so popular it's now the central character on a cartoon called Bobby's World. Howie had his own talk show for a while, but that didn't last. Lately he's been spotted with a completely bald, shaved head in restaurant commercials.
Scott Bairstow
This young actor hails from Winnipeg and has been acting since age 10. He starred in the film White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf and the television series Lonesome Dove. Shortly after finding out the series was cancelled he found out he got a part in the movie Wild America with Jonathan Taylor Thomas and fellow Canadian Devon Sawa. Scott also landed the role of Miles Tuck in the recently released to video/DVD film Tuck Everlasting.
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer was the firstborn of twins. He lived in Los Angeles, with his parents (Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas) until their divorce. Then he and his sister moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada with their mother. At 9 years, he appeared on stage for the first time in a production called Throne of Straw.
Kiefer dropped out of school at age 15 to persue a career in acting. He had preformed in a number of stage productions. He made his film debut as a walk-on named "Bill" in Max Duggan Returns which starred his father. Shortly after, he earned his first starring role in The Bay Boy , A coming-of-age drama. His preformance earned him great critical acclaim, as well as a nomination for a Genie Award.
He then moved to California, and lived in his car on the beach in Santa Monica while trying to make a name for himself. A member of the screen Actor's Guild; he held small roles in At Close Range, Stand By Me, and made for television movies; The Mission, Trapped In Silence, and Brother Hood of Justice. He has been acting ever since.
In April 1996 as well as starring in, Kiefer directed a feature film for the first time, Truth or Conseqences N.M..
Kiefer's family was quite involved in politics, particularly on his mother's (Shirley) side. Kiefer is now starring on the second season of the ground-breaking television show 24 and well as a main role in the recently released film Phone Booth
Jim Carrey
Funnyman Jim Carey overcame a difficult childhood to become the character he is today. He was raised in Scarborough (near Toronto) where his family encountered financial difficulties that forced him to grow up too fast. As a teenager he made his first appearance as a stand-up comic at Yuk-Yuks.
Jim Carrey's first film was as a vampire's prey in Once Bitten 1985. He later was given the opportunity to show off his comedic talents on the popular television show In Living Color, as one of the few caucasian cast members, through a connection to Damon Wayans who was a co-star in the 1989 film Earth Girls Are Easy.
From television he moved to his funny role as Ace Ventura and to the films we all recognize him in today:
The Mask
Dumb & Dumber
Batman Forever
The Cable Guy
Liar Liar
The Truman Show
Man on the Moon
Me, Myself & Irene
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The Majestic
Matt Frewer
Best known as portraying the character Max Headroom. He also played the main character in the sitcom Doctor, Doctor (which was a favorite of mine when it was on the air). I've also been told he was in the movie Lawnmowerman II. Last I heard of him he was the Pink Panther's voice on a cartoon, as well as an actor on the show PSI Factor.
Alan Thicke
Alan was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario (no, not actually in a lake). He starred in the Alan Thicke Show on CTV and later went on to play Jason Seaver on Growing Pains. Also back in 1983 he had a talk show called Thicke of the Night which lasted for about a year. In 1995 he played Dennis Dupree on the sitcom Hope and Gloria, and later hosted the game show Pictionary.
Phil Hartman
Phil was born in Brantford, Ontario September 24, 1948. He was killed May 28, 1998, at the age of 49.
Phil had done some acting in high school but he had seen the tough time his brother had trying to make it and decided to try a different career path. He majored in graphic design and spent 8 years designing 40 to 50 album covers, as well as advertisements and company logos before he switched over to acting and comedy.
In 1975 joined the comedy troupe The Groundlings which included Paul Reuben. He later became a regular on Paul's show Pee Wee's Playhouse and co-wrote the film Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
In 1986 Phil joined Saturday Night Live where he performed for eight seasons. He may be best remembered for this time where he played such characters as: Frank Sinatra, Saddam Hussein, Charlton Heston, Phil Donahue, Jack Nicholson, Ed McMahon, and The Anal Retentive.....(Chef, Carpenter, Sportsman).
Phil left Saturday Night Live in 1994 and took on the role of Bill McNeal on the show News Radio with fellow Canadian Dave Foley. He also made frequent guest appearances on The Simpsons as Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz among other characters.
Throughout his years in showbiz he was part of many films including Three Amigos, Coneheads, Jingle All the Way, Sgt. Bilko and Small Soldiers.
Michael J. Fox
Michael was born Michael Andrew Fox on June 9, 1961 to Phyllis and William Fox in Edmonton, Alberta. Michael's father worked in the Canadian Armed Forces, which entailed many moves for the family. At William's retirement in 1971 the family settled in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Michael made his professional acting debut on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's sitcom Leo and Me at age 15. Most of us first took notice of Michael on the sitcom Family Ties as the yuppie-wannabe Alex P. Keaton. While a cast member of Family Ties he also started his extensive work on the big screen with projects such as Teen Wolf and the Back to the Future series of films. It was during his time on Family Ties that Michael met his future wife Tracy Pollan. They were married in the summer of 1988.
When Family Ties ended its run in 1989 Michael continued his work on the big screen. He was seen in films like Doc Hollywood, For Love or Money, Greedy and The American President. In 1996 Michael teamed up again with Family Ties creator Gary David Goldberg for the sitcom Spin City. He spent 4 years playing Mike Flaherty, deputy Mayor of New York on Spin City.
Michael found out in 1991 that he had Parkinson's disease. While he worked many years while having it, it started to put too much of a strain on him. After having publicly announced that he had Parkinsons in a December 1998 magazine article, he announced his decision to leave his role as Mike Flaherty in January 2000. Today Michael is working on raising money and awareness for Parkinsons, but has not retired completely from his acting career. He has founded a foundation for research aptly named the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Michael and Tracy are still married and now have three children (1 pair of twins).
Related...
Leslie Nielsen
When most people think of Leslie Nielsen these days they think of his character Lt. Frank Drebin from the Naked Gun film series. However, there was a point in his career where he was considered quite the serious actor, and typecast as such. Leslie Nielsen has made numerous appearances in film and on television throughout his career. According the Internet Movie DataBase he has made over 90 such appearances since 1955 in The Battle of Gettysburg.
Nielsen was born on February 11, 1926 in Regina, Saskatchewan. He was raised in Fort Norman in the Yukon where his father was a mountie (RCMP).
Some of his more recent film appearances include: The Naked Gun films, Surf Ninjas, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Spy Hard, Mr. Magoo, and Men With Brooms.
Additionally, Leslie's brother Eric Nielsen was a member of Canadian Parliament from 1957 to 1987 and was our Deputy Prime Minister under Brian Mulroney from 1984 to 1986.
Roy Dupuis
Apparently quite the popular and sexy guy. The Internet Movie Database claims that he skydives as a hobby (not only sexy, but a risk taker too!
). Roy was born in Abtibi, Quebec on April 21st 1963 and spent his childhood in Kapuskasing, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. Roy's multilingual childhood is reflected in his acting roles. He has been in (and continues to act in) many French and English productions for film and on television.
Roy began his acting career around 1988 and was a part of several well-received small films in the early 1990s. Most people will recognize Roy from the television series La Femme Nikita (a.k.a. Nikita) which can be seen on several continents.
For more information on Roy Dupuis visit one of his many fan sites:
About Roy Dupuis
The Roy Dupuis Page
A Multi-lingual Roy Dupuis Site
MS4 Roy Dupuis
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