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
- Field: Politician Clear ×
Pierre Trudeau
1919 - 2000
Louis-Joseph Papineau
1786 - 1871
Jacques Parizeau
1930 - 2015
Robert Bourassa
1933 - 1996
Jack Layton
1950 - 2011
Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin
1849 - 1917
Jean Lesage
1912 - 1980
Gilles Duceppe
Born 1947
Adrien Arcand
1899 - 1967
Pierre Laporte
1921 - 1970
Jacob Dolson Cox
1828 - 1900
Jean Drapeau
1916 - 1999
Pierre-Marc Johnson
Born 1946
Camillien Houde
1889 - 1958
Bill Graham (Canadian politician)
Born 1939
Thérèse Casgrain
1896 - 1981
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois
Born 1990
Dov Yosef
1899 - 1980
Wolfred Nelson
1791 - 1863
Cairine Wilson
1885 - 1962
Jacques Demers
Born 1944
Claude Ryan
1925 - 2004
Geoff Davis
Born 1958
Charles Boucher de Boucherville
1822 - 1915
Françoise David
Born 1948
André Boisclair
Born 1966
Pierre Karl Péladeau
Born 1961
Jean Doré
1944 - 2015
Jim Watson (Canadian politician)
Born 1961
Gilles Lamontagne
1919 - 2016
Brooke Claxton
1898 - 1960
Hugh Segal
Born 1950
Pierre Bourque (politician)
Born 1942
Warren Allmand
1932 - 2016
Daniel Turp
Born 1955
Daniel Johnson Jr.
Born 1944
Mélanie Joly
Born 1979
Pierre Claude Nolin
1950 - 2015
Pierre Juneau
1922 - 2012
Victor Goldbloom
1923 - 2016
Yvon Dupuis
1926 - 2017
David Emerson
Born 1945
Joseph Papineau
1752 - 1841
Jacques Chagnon
Born 1952
Glen Murray (politician)
Born 1957
Raoul Dandurand
1861 - 1942
Hartland Molson
1907 - 2002
Georges-Émile Lapalme
1907 - 1985
Maurice Sauvé
1923 - 1992
Hélène David
Born 1953
Jacques Duchesneau
Born 1949
Édouard-Raymond Fabre
1799 - 1854
Harry Markland Molson
1856 - 1912
Paul David
1919 - 1999
Guy Tardif
1935 - 2005
Liza Frulla
Born 1949
Jean-Guy Cardinal
1925 - 1979
Médéric Martin
1869 - 1946
Elizabeth Rudel Smith
1911 - 1997
Robert Libman
Born 1960
Leo Housakos
Born 1968
Paul Gouin
1898 - 1976
Gérald Beaudoin
1929 - 2008
Solange Chaput-Rolland
1919 - 2001
Gilbert Paquette
Born 1942
Colin Kenny
Born 1943
Fernand Rinfret
1883 - 1939
Lucienne Robillard
Born 1945
Massimo Pacetti
Born 1962
Leo Kolber
1929 - 2020
François Aquin
1929 - 2017
Herbert Ames
1863 - 1954
John Lynch-Staunton
1930 - 2012
Claude Forget
Born 1936
Andrée Ferretti
Born 1935
Guy Joron
1940 - 2017
Frédéric-Auguste Quesnel
1785 - 1866
Michael Applebaum
Born 1963
Sydney Arthur Fisher
1850 - 1921
Robert Burns (Quebec politician)
1936 - 2014
Louis Beaubien
1837 - 1915
George Carlyle Marler
1901 - 1981
Stéphane Bergeron
Born 1965
William Shaw (Quebec politician)
1932 - 2018
Monique Landry
Born 1937
Jean-Noël Lavoie
1927 - 2013
Sheila Finestone
1927 - 2009
Judith Guichon
Born 1947
Thomas White (Canadian politician)
1830 - 1888
Jean-Pierre Côté
1926 - 2002
Maurice Perrault
1857 - 1909
Denis-Benjamin Papineau
1789 - 1854
Geoffrey Kelley
Born 1955
Marcel Léger
1930 - 1993
Liz McManus
Born 1947
Thomas Macnamara
1861 - 1931
Charles le Moyne de Longueuil, Baron de Longueuil
1656 - 1729
Joe Oliver (politician)
Born 1940
Russell Copeman
Born 1960
Luc Ferrandez
Born 1962
Erin O'Toole
Born 1973
Patty Hajdu
Born 1966
Daniel Paillé
Born 1950
Jean Dorion
Born 1942
Charles Duquette
1869 - 1937
Charles-Séraphin Rodier (mayor)
1797 - 1876
François Baby (businessman)
1733 - 1820
Robert Gordon Rogers
1919 - 2010
Gerry Sklavounos
Born 1974
Lisette Lapointe
Born 1943
John L. Jolley
1840 - 1926
Roy Cullen
Born 1944
Andy Mitchell (politician)
Born 1953
James John Edmund Guerin
1856 - 1932
Michel Bissonnet
Born 1942
James McShane
1833 - 1918
Louis Bernard
Born 1937
William Kashtan
1909 - 1993
André Léveillé
1933 - 2017
Lucien Saulnier
1916 - 1989
Claude Jodoin
1913 - 1975
Laurent Blanchard
Born 1952
Henry J. Friel
1823 - 1869
Dominique Anglade
Born 1974
Jean-Claude Malépart
1938 - 1989
Emmanuella Lambropoulos
Born 1990
Jean Blanchet (Quebec politician)
1843 - 1908
Beaudry Leman
1878 - 1951
Pierre Bélanger
Born 1960
David Whissell
Born 1967
Hormidas Laporte
1850 - 1934
Richard French (Canadian politician)
Born 1947
Louis Delorme
1824 - 1895
Art Phillips
1930 - 2013
Bernard Patry
Born 1943
Bertrand St-Arnaud
Born 1958
Frederick Debartzch Monk
1856 - 1914
Sébastien Proulx
Born 1975
Jean Crowder
Born 1952
Yolande James
Born 1977
Barbara Haering
Born 1953
Marcel Robidas
1923 - 2009
Kathleen Weil
Born 1954
Jacques Daoust
1948 - 2017
George Washington Stephens Jr.
1866 - 1942
Nicola Di Iorio
-
Monique Jérôme-Forget
Born 1940
François Bonnardel
Born 1967
Paul-Émile Lamarche
1881 - 1918
Arthur Turcotte
1845 - 1905
Bob Delaney (politician)
Born 1953
Fernand Daoust
1926 - 2020
Hélène Pelosse
Born 1970
Francis Scarpaleggia
Born 1957
Frank Baylis
Born 1962
Yves Bérubé
1940 - 1993
Diane Legault
Born 1956
Hector Dupuis
1896 - 1967
Yves Gabias
1920 - 2002
André Marchand (politician)
1926 - 2011
Nicole Léger
Born 1955
Claude-André Lachance
Born 1954
Elsie Lefebvre
Born 1979
David Heurtel
Born 1973
Luc Thériault
Born 1960
Jean-Marie Ducharme
1723 - 1807
Antoine Chartier de Lotbinière Harwood
1825 - 1891
Claude Trudel
Born 1942
Robert Poëti
Born 1955
Léon Mercier Gouin
1891 - 1983
Jean-François Larose
Born 1972
François Gaudreau
Born 1957
Gilbert Layton
1899 - 1961
Shirley Maheu
1931 - 2006
Yvan Loubier
Born 1959
Christian Ouellet
Born 1934
Francine Charbonneau
Born 1962
Claire Samson
Born 1955
Carole Poirier
Born 1958
Jean Rochon
Born 1938
Nathalie Des Rosiers
Born 1959
Jacques Dupuis (politician)
Born 1948
Tony Tomassi
Born 1971
Filomena Rotiroti
Born 1974
Albert William Atwater
1856 - 1929
William McLean Hamilton
1919 - 1989
Denis Viger
1741 - 1805
Nicolas Girard
Born 1972
Herbert Meredith Marler
1876 - 1940
Douglas Roche
Born 1929
Alan Macnaughton
1903 - 1999
Alexandre-Maurice Delisle
1810 - 1880
François Rebello
Born 1970
Jean Corbeil
1934 - 2002
MarieChantal Chassé
-
Claude Dauphin (politician)
Born 1953
Louis Archambeault
1814 - 1890
Jean-Pierre Jolivet
Born 1941
Henry Archer Ekers
1855 - 1937
Jean-Paul Deschatelets
1912 - 1986
Roch Cholette
Born 1963
Marc Gold
Born 1950
Philémon Cousineau
1874 - 1959
Richard Merlini
Born 1965
Jean Campeau
Born 1931
Lawrence Alexander Wilson
1863 - 1934
Marcel Danis
Born 1943
Bonaventure Panet
1765 - 1846
Anthony Abbott
Born 1930
Claude Cousineau
Born 1950
Lawrence Bergman
Born 1940
Roger Paquin
Born 1947
Violette Trépanier
Born 1945
Louis Payette
1854 - 1932
Michel Bourdon
1943 - 2004
Meili Faille
Born 1972
Jean Rousselle
Born 1953
Frank Hanley
1909 - 2006
André Bourbeau
1936 - 2018
Percy Quinn
1878 - 1944
Jean-Baptiste-René Hertel de Rouville
1789 - 1858
Sam Walsh
1916 - 2008
Réal Ménard
Born 1962
Henry Gage, 3rd Viscount Gage
1761 - 1808
François-Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil
1703 - 1779
Michael J. L. Kirby
Born 1941
Dan Branch
Born 1958
Pierre Marois
Born 1940
Louis-Michel Viger
1785 - 1855
Antoine-Olivier Berthelet
1798 - 1872
Alex Cullen
Born 1951
Matthew Dubé
Born 1988
Alphonse Verville
1864 - 1930
Arthur Boyer
1851 - 1922
Jean-Claude St-André
Born 1962
Miguel Figueroa
Born 1953
Greg Fergus
Born 1969
Alex Tyrrell
Born 1988
Léo Bureau-Blouin
Born 1991
Normand Cherry
Born 1938
Cathy Edwards
Born 1948
Pierre Marsan
Born 1948
Laurent Lavigne
1935 - 2017
Pierre Descoteaux
1952 - 2018
Charles Allan Smart
1868 - 1937
Peter Bercovitch
1879 - 1942
Albert De Martin
Born 1951
Daniel Breton
Born 1962
Rod Sykes
Born 1929
Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe
Born 1984
Roger Pomerleau
Born 1947
Stephen Greene (politician)
Born 1949
Claude Bachand (MNA)
Born 1956
Cécile Vermette
Born 1945
Éric Charbonneau
Born 1969
Claude Lanthier
1933 - 2015
Marie Montpetit
Born 1979
François Malhiot
1733 - 1808
Chantal Rouleau
Born 1959
Charles Ernest Gault
1861 - 1946
Pierre Fortier
1932 - 2019
Monique Pauzé
Born 1950
François Benjamin
Born 1962
André Riedl
Born 1940
Éric Laporte
Born 1976
Gilles Bernier (Quebec politician)
Born 1934
Robert Layton
1925 - 2002
Lyse Leduc
Born 1938
Marc Demers
-
David Birnbaum
Born 1956
Lucie Leblanc
Born 1962
David J. Mitchell
Born 1954
Raphaël Fortin
Born 1980
Andrew Ross McMaster
1876 - 1937
David Côté
1915 - 1969
Hoang Mai (politician)
Born 1973
Peter Shurman
Born 1947
Michèle Lamquin-Éthier
Born 1946
Bernard Sévigny
Born 1961
René Gauvreau
Born 1954
Walt Lastewka
Born 1940
George M. Smith
1912 - 1962
Jamie Nicholls
Born 1971
Gila Martow
Born 1961
Gerry Weiner
Born 1933
Ève Péclet
Born 1988
Gilbert Chartrand
Born 1954
Thomas Healy (politician)
1894 - 1957
Edward Abbott (jurist)
1766 - 1832
Yves Ryan
1928 - 2014
Jean Domingue
Born 1962
Robert Alexander Harrison
1833 - 1878
Marwah Rizqy
-
Pierre-François Casgrain
1886 - 1950
Lise St-Denis
Born 1940
Nicole Loiselle
Born 1954
Linda McIntosh
Born 1943
Frank Zampino
-
Daniel-Jérémie Décarie
1836 - 1904
Nicolas Dufour
Born 1987