Research project: Famous Canadians
From the list provided below, select and research a famous Canadian. Consider information such as:
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Full name
Date and place of birth
Family
Education and schooling
Once you have chosen your person, spend
some time researching him/her. Then you
will write and submit a one-page summary
of that person’s life. Use the simple past
tense!
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Scott Abbott and Chris Haney (inventors
of game "Trivial Pursuit")
Dan Aykroyd (movie actor; Elwood of
"The Blues Brothers")
Bryan Adams (musician and songwriter;
Grammy award winner; writer of
international hit "(Everything I Do) I Do
It for You")
Pamela Anderson (actress on
"Baywatch")
Paul Anka (singer and songwriter; writer
of song "My Way")
Louise Arbour (Chief Prosecutor,
International Criminal Tribunal, The
Hague)
Arcade Fire (rock band; won 2011
Grammy for album of the year)
Margaret Atwood (writer; author of
"The Handmaid's Tale")
Donovan Bailey (sprinter; 100m
Olympic Gold Medalist, 1996)
Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) (rock
group; writers of songs "You Ain't Seen
Nuthin' Yet" and "Takin' Care of
Business")
Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis (cofounders of RIM, developer of
Blackberry smartphone)
The Band (rock group; performed
extensively with Bob Dylan)
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Life challenges
Life Achievements
Famous work
Other…
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Frederick Banting and Charles Best
(discoverers of diabetes drug insulin,
1921)
Barenaked Ladies (rock group; writers
of song "If I Had a Million Dollars")
Norman Bethune ("Bai Qiu En")
(medical doctor; hero in Chinese civil
war)
Justin Bieber (teen international singing
sensation)
Roberta Bondar (space shuttle
astronaut)
Paul Brandt (country singer; CMA 2005
Global Artist of the Year)
Kurt Browning (figure skater; four-time
world champion)
Michael Bublé (pop/jazz singer; won
2007 Grammy award)
Genevieve Bujold (movie actress; 1969
Academy Award nominee)
Raymond Burr (actor; star of "Perry
Mason" television show)
James Cameron (director of movie "The
Titanic")
John Candy (comedic actor; police
officer Burton Mercer in "The Blues
Brothers")
Jim Carrey (actor; star of such movies as
"Ace Ventura: Pet Detective")
Kim Cattrall (actress; co-star of "Sex and
the City" -- lived in Canada from three
months old to 16 years old)
Robert Charlebois (French-language
singer and songwriter)
John de Chastelain (general; overseer of
IRA disarmament)
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Hayden Christensen (actor; Anakin
Skywalker in the later "Star Wars"
movies)
Leonard Cohen (poet, singer, and
songwriter)
Holly Cole (jazz singer; especially
popular in Japan)
Douglas Coupland (writer; author of
"Generation X")
H.S.M. Coxeter (world-renowned
mathematician; developer of Coxeter
groups)
David Cronenberg (movie director;
Cannes Jury Prize winner, 1996)
Robertson Davies (author; writer of
"Fifth Business")
Romeo Dallaire (general; commander of
Rwanda international peacekeeping
mission)
Celine Dion (ballad singer; many huge
hits including "Where Does My Heart
Beat Now")
The Dionne Quintuplets (first ever
surviving quintuplets)
Dennis Doherty (musician; founding
member of "The Mamas & The Papas")
James Doohan (actor; Scotty of "Star
Trek")
Drake (Grammy-nominated hip-hop
artist)
Atom Egoyan (movie director; 1998
Academy Award nominee)
Percy Faith (composer and bandleader;
initiator of "easy listening" genre)
J.C. Fields (mathematician; initiator of
the Fields Medal)
Sandford Fleming (creator of Universal
Standard Time, 1879; knighted in 1897)
Michael J. Fox (television and movie
actor; star of "Family Ties" and "Back to
the Future")
Northrop Frye (ledendary literary critic)
David Foster (music producer of
Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand,
The Corrs, etc.)
Nelly Furtado (singer and songwriter)
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Yousuf Karsh (portrait photographer of
Bogart, Einstein, Eisenhower,
Hemingway, Kennedy, Churchill, ...)
John Kenneth Galbraith (economist;
advisor to many U.S. presidents)
Marc Garneau (space shuttle astronaut)
Frank Gehry (architect; designed e.g.
the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao)
William Gibson (science fiction author;
inventor of "cyberpunk" genre)
Malcolm Gladwell (writer and
journalist; author of "The Tipping
Point")
James Gosling (author of Java computer
language)
Ryan Gosling (Hollywood actor; star of
"Crazy Stupid Love")
Glenn Gould (leading classical piano
player)
Lorne Greene (actor; star of television
show "Bonanza")
Nancy Greene (skier; 1968 Olympic gold
medalist)
Wayne Gretzky (hockey superstar)
Paul Gross (actor; played Mountie
Benton Fraser on "Due South")
Group of Seven (early twentieth
century painters)
The Guess Who (rock band; writers of
song "American Woman")
Monty Hall (host of television show
"Let's Make a Deal")
Paul Haggis (Academy Award-winning
director of "Crash")
Phil Hartman (comedian on Saturday
Night Live)
Keith Hastings (inventor of MetropolisHastings computer algorithm)
Douglas Henning (magician, and
advocate of Transcendental Meditation)
Gordie Howe (hockey superstar)
IMAX Corporation (group of Canadians
that invented the IMAX movie format,
1970)
Kenneth Iverson (author of APL
computer language)
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Peter Jennings (ABC television news
host)
Norman Jewison (movie director;
winner of 1999 Special Academy
Award)
Ben Johnson (former world-class
sprinter)
Lynn Johnston (creator of "For Better or
For Worse" comic strip)
Brian Kernighan (co-author of C
computer language)
Margot Kidder (actress; Lois Lane of
"Superman" movies)
W.P. Kinsella (author of novel "Shoeless
Joe", later made into movie "Field of
Dreams")
K'naan (musician; writer of World Cup
anthem "Wavin' Flag")
Diana Krall (best-selling jazz singer)
Guy LaFleur (hockey superstar)
k.d. lang (rock/country singer and
songwriter)
Daniel Lanois (musician and producer of
Bob Dylan, U2, etc.)
Avril Lavigne (rock singer and
songwriter)
Stephen Leacock (comedic writer)
Mario Lemieux (hockey superstar)
Gordon Lightfoot (folk singer and
songwriter)
Art Linkletter (TV personality; co-host of
"Kids Say the Darndest Things")
Rich Little (voice impressionist)
Guy Lombardo (big-band leader; 192962 performer of "Auld Lang Syne" in
New York on New Year's Eve)
Lewis MacKenzie (general; commander
of Sarajevo international peacekeeping
mission)
Steve MacLean (space station
astronaut)
Robert MacNeil (U.S. television news
commentator; co-creator of The
MacNeil/Lehrer Report)
Howie Mandel (comedic actor; host of
"Deal or No Deal")
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Raymond Massey (movie actor;
portrayed Abraham Lincoln)
Rachel McAdams (movie actor; Regina
of "Mean Girls")
Eric McCormack (actor; played "Will" on
TV show "Will & Grace")
Loreena McKennitt (celtic-style
musician)
Sarah McLachlan (rock singer and
songwriter; Lilith Fair organiser)
Marshall McLuhan (communication
theorist)
David McTaggart and Paul Watson (cofounders of Greenpeace)
Deepa Mehta (Academy Awardnominated director of "Water")
Men Without Hats (rock group;
performers of international top-ten
song "The Safety Dance")
Mike Myers (comedic actor; writer and
star of "Wayne's World" and "Austin
Powers")
Lorne Michaels (creator and producer
of "Saturday Night Live")
Joni Mitchell (folk singer and
songwriter)
Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of
"Anne of Green Gables")
Rick Moranis (comedic actor; co-star of
movie "Ghost Busters")
Alanis Morissette (rock singer and
songwriter; won 7 Grammy awards)
Carrie-Anne Moss (actress; Trinity in
"The Matrix" movies)
Farley Mowat (author and
conservationist; writer of "Never Cry
Wolf")
Anne Murray (pop singer of e.g. megahit "You Needed Me")
James Naismith (inventor of basketball,
1892)
Steve Nash (NBA basketball star and
two-time MVP)
Daniel Nestor (tennis player; two-time
Wimbledon doubles champion)
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Leslie Nielsen (comedic movie actor;
starred in "Airplane" and "Naked Gun"
series)
Sandra Oh (actress; Dr. Cristina Yang on
"Grey's Anatomy")
Michael Ondaatje (author of "The
English Patient", later made into a
movie)
Bobby Orr (hockey superstar)
Ellen Page (movie actress; 2008
Academy Award nominee)
Julie Payette (space shuttle astronaut)
Lester Pearson (originator of U.N.
Peacekeeping Forces; winner of 1957
Nobel Peace Prize)
Matthew Perry (actor; Chandler of T.V.
show "Friends")
Russell Peters (stand-up comedian)
Oscar Peterson (legendary jazz piano
player; won 7 Grammy awards)
Mary Pickford (early movie actor)
Christopher Plummer (actor; co-star of
movie "The Sound of Music")
John Polanyi (chemist; winner of 1986
Nobel Prize)
Jason Priestly (television actor on
"90210")
Raffi (children's music performer)
James Randi, a.k.a. "The Amazing
Randi" (magician and skeptic)
Keanu Reeves (movie actor; star of "The
Matrix")
Ryan Reynolds (movie actor; star of
"The Proposal" and "Green Lantern")
Mordecai Richler (author; writer of "The
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz")
Maurice "Rocket" Richard (hockey
superstar)
Stan Rogers (folk singer and songwriter)
Mark Rowswell ("Da Shan") (TV host
and comedy star in China)
Greg Rusedski (professional tennis
player, now plays for Britain)
Rush (progressive rock / heavy metal
group; received "Living Legend Award"
from London's Classic Rock)
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Morley Safer (reporter/correspondent
for CBS News and 60 Minutes)
Robert J. Sawyer (science fiction author;
Nebula and Hugo Award winner)
Myron Scholes (economist; winner of
1997 Nobel prize)
Paul Shaffer (band leader on David
Letterman's "Late Night" television
show)
William Shatner (actor; Captain Kirk of
"Star Trek")
Martin Short (comedic movie actor)
Joe Shuster (creator of "Superman"
character, 1938)
Hank Snow (country singer; released
mega-hit "I'm Movin' On" in 1950)
Andrew Michael Spence (economist;
winner of 2001 Nobel Prize)
Elvis Stojko (figure skater)
Donald and Kiefer Sutherland (father &
son acting stars)
Alan Thicke (TV actor, host, and theme
song writer)
Alex Trebek (host of television show
"Jeopardy")
Pierre Trudeau (politician and
statesman)
Shania Twain (country singer and
songwriter)
Nia Vardalos (writer and star of movie
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding")
Gilles Vigneault (French-language singer
and songwriter)
Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve (father &
son champion racecar drivers)
Roch Voisine (French-language rock
singer)
Al Waxman (actor; Lt. Bert Samuels of
"Cagney and Lacey")
Mike Weir (golf champion)
Neil Young (singer, musician, and
songwriter)
Robert Young (co-founder of Red Hat
linux company)
Mortimer Zuckerman (publisher/owner
of New York Daily News
http://www.probability.ca/jeff/canadians.htm