45.4232° N, 75.6926° W

OTTAWA

Most Famous People Born in Ottawa, Canada

Notable people
1,174
Peak decade
1970s
Median birth year
1951
Most distinctive
Curler 23.1×

Less a national capital than the place Canada uses to manufacture winter athletes — the Curler bench runs at better than twenty-three times the global baseline, which is extreme even by Canadian standards, and the broom-and-blade pipeline goes deeper than the Parliament Hill day jobs. A disproportionate Skater count and a catch-all Sport bump fill in everything the Rideau Canal has frozen into Olympians over the decades.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Ottawa during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1970s with 146 notable births.

What Ottawa Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Hockey is Ottawa's biggest profession — 21% of all notables (248).

Ottawa over-indexes on curler23.1× the global rate.

Ottawa under-produces football — only 0.5× the global rate.

  1. Hockey248
  2. Politician119
  3. Actor89
  4. Football68
  5. Sport39
  6. Writer35
  7. Lawyer29
  8. Singer28
  1. Curler1623.1×
  2. Hockey24817.8×
  3. Skater196.7×
  4. Sport392.0×
  5. Film231.6×
  1. Football680.5×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Ottawa's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

18251850187519001925195019752000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Music
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Other
All1,174
Sort By

Showing 56 of 1,174 notable people

0001 WRITER

Margaret Atwood

Born 1939

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0023 IMPRESSIONIST

Rich Little

Born 1938

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0042 ACTRESS

Nobu McCarthy

1934 - 2002

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0057 POLITICIAN

Stephen Lewis

Born 1937

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0068 SKIER

Anne Heggtveit

Born 1939

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0101 LAWYER

Don Johnston

Born 1936

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0141 HOCKEY

Brian Kilrea

Born 1934

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0143 LAWYER

Donald Stovel Macdonald

1932 - 2018

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0167 ACTOR

Rick Jones (voice actor)

Born 1939

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0197 GOVERNOR

Leneen Forde

Born 1935

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0360 WRITER

Brian Doyle (writer)

Born 1935

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0368 HOCKEY

Gilles Mayer

1930 - 2015

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0393 POLITICIAN

Gisèle Lalonde

Born 1933

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0401 COMMENTATOR

Dan Kelly (sportscaster)

1936 - 1989

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0446 POLITICIAN

Ian Scott (Ontario politician)

1934 - 2006

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0459 JOURNALIST

Charles P. B. Taylor

1935 - 1997

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0467 ENGRAVER

Claire Van Vliet

Born 1933

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0473 HOCKEY

Brian Cullen

Born 1933

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0505 HOCKEY

Bob Boucher (ice hockey)

1938 - 2004

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0509 PARLIAMENT

Walter Baker (Canadian politician)

1930 - 1983

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0516 ACTOR

Gilbert Chénier

1936 - 1975

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0541 LAWYER

Constance Glube

1931 - 2016

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0548 PRISONER

Ronald Turpin

1933 - 1962

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0553 CHEMIST

Bernard Cloutier

1933 - 2011

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0555 HOCKEY

Barry Cullen

Born 1935

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0607 MUSIC

Dick Maloney (singer)

1933 - 2010

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0631 SURGEON

Balfour Mount

Born 1939

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0634 POET

Jean Ménard

1930 - 1977

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0666 HARPSICHORDIST

Hubert Bédard

1933 - 1989

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0672 COMPOSER

Anne Eggleston

1934 - 1994

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0677 JOURNALIST

Jean Charpentier

1935 - 2010

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0691 HOCKEY

Eddie Long (ice hockey)

Born 1933

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0718 DANCER

David Lee Moroni

Born 1938

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0736 POLITICIAN

Claudette Boyer

1938 - 2013

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0738 POLITICIAN

Claude Bennett

1936 - 2020

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0787 OFFICER

André Gauthier (sculptor)

1935 - 2017

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0803 ACTOR

Martha Gibson

Born 1939

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0839 POLITICIAN

Joan Russow

Born 1938

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0850 PRODUCER

Harvey Glatt

Born 1934

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0865 POLITICIAN

George Ashe (Canadian politician)

1932 - 2014

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0879 JUDGE

Frederick E. Gibson

Born 1935

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0887 SISTER

Gretchen Brewin

Born 1938

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0891 POLITICIAN

Jacquelin Holzman

Born 1930

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0894 FOOTBALL

Moe Levesque

Born 1938

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0901 POLITICIAN

Lorry Greenberg

1933 - 1999

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0920 LAWYER

Hugh Poulin

1931 - 2018

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0942 LUGER

D'Arcy Coulson

1936 - 2020

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0969 LAWYER

Pierre Benoit (Ontario politician)

Born 1939

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0977 HOCKEY

Wally Maxwell

Born 1933

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0985 SPORT

William Hare (sport shooter)

1935 - 2005

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1021 FOOTBALL

Benny MacDonnell

Born 1930

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1025 POLITICIAN

Eugène Bellemare

1932 - 2018

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1048 LAWYER

Bob Jarvis

Born 1936

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1095 BUSINESS

Wilbert Hopper

1933 - 2006

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1155 BASKET

Brian Upson

1931 - 1982

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1174 BOXER

Joey Sandulo

1931 - 2019

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