45.5089° N, 73.5618° W
MONTREAL
Most Famous People Born in Montreal, Canada
- Notable people
- 4,921
- Peak decade
- 1960s
- Median birth year
- 1948
- Most distinctive
- Hockey 8.4×
Bilingual, with a comic streak. Montreal's distinctive profession is hockey at more than eight times the global rate, alongside an unusually thick column of actors, filmmakers, singers, and poets — the city's notables split almost evenly between French and English in every category. Hockey is the constant, but the comedy tradition that runs from the cabarets of Saint-Laurent through the National Film Board to the Just for Laughs festival is the cultural surprise the panel can't quite carry.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Montreal during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 594 notable births.
What Montreal Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Actor is Montreal's biggest profession — 12% of all notables (592).
Montreal over-indexes on hockey — 8.4× the global rate.
Montreal under-produces football — only 0.3× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Montreal's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Politics & Law
- Writing
- Music
- Art & Design
- Other
- Filtered to 1850s Clear ×
Frank Dawson Adams
1859 - 1942
Alexis Contant
1858 - 1918
Arthur Godfrey Peuchen
1859 - 1929
Harry Markland Molson
1856 - 1912
Guillaume Couture (musician)
1851 - 1915
Paul Bruchési
1855 - 1939
Charles Doherty
1855 - 1931
Sydney Arthur Fisher
1850 - 1921
Maurice Perrault
1857 - 1909
Joseph Venne
1858 - 1925
James John Edmund Guerin
1856 - 1932
Hormidas Laporte
1850 - 1934
William Alexander Weir
1858 - 1929
Charles J. Ross
1859 - 1918
Frederick Debartzch Monk
1856 - 1914
John Smythe Hall
1853 - 1909
Ernest Lavigne
1851 - 1909
Albert William Atwater
1856 - 1929
Henry Archer Ekers
1855 - 1937
William Reed (musician)
1859 - 1945
Lily Dougall
1858 - 1923
Louis Payette
1854 - 1932
Arthur Boyer
1851 - 1922
Clarence Handyside
1854 - 1931
Joseph-Marcellin Wilson
1859 - 1940
John Stewart McLennan
1853 - 1939
Napoléon Charbonneau
1853 - 1916
Philip Ross
1858 - 1949
François-Édouard Meloche
1855 - 1914
Peter Charles Larkin
1855 - 1930
Robert Augustus Sweeney
1853 - 1890
Gerald Hugh Brabazon
1854 - 1938
Joseph Ernest Cyr
1854 - 1929
Michel-Siméon Delisle
1856 - 1931
Joseph Alexandre Camille Madore
1858 - 1906
Émery Lavigne
1859 - 1902
Louis G. Destremps
1851 - 1916
Edward Goff Penny (MP)
1858 - 1935
Frederick Hallen
1859 - 1920
Tom Paton (ice hockey)
1854 - 1909
Joseph-Adolphe Chauret
1854 - 1918