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 121 of 1,174 notable people

0005 ACTOR

Paul Anka

Born 1941

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0014 FILM

Roger Spottiswoode

Born 1945

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0017 ECONOMIST

Michel Chossudovsky

Born 1946

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0018 WRITER

John Ralston Saul

Born 1947

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0019 POLITICIAN

Bob Rae

Born 1948

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0020 FEMINIST

Shulamith Firestone

1945 - 2012

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0024 SINGER

Bruce Cockburn

Born 1945

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0027 SKIER

Nancy Greene Raine

Born 1943

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0029 QUEEN

Princess Margriet of the Netherlands

Born 1943

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0039 WRITER

Sasha Sokolov

Born 1943

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0052 ACTOR

Gordon Thomson (actor)

Born 1945

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0081 WRITER

Michael O'Brien (Canadian author)

Born 1948

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0106 POLITICIAN

Gérald Tremblay

Born 1942

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0125 COMPOSER

François Dompierre

Born 1943

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0127 PRELATE

J. Michael Miller

Born 1946

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0131 FILM

Timothy Bond

Born 1942

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0133 ATHLETIC

Bruce Kidd

Born 1943

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0148 HOCKEY

Gary Smith (ice hockey)

Born 1944

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0153 MATHEMATICIAN

Joel Feldman

Born 1949

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0154 POLITICIAN

Alexa McDonough

Born 1944

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0163 MATHEMATICIAN

Barbara Keyfitz

Born 1944

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0168 HOCKEY

Jean Potvin

Born 1949

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0175 JOURNALIST

Graham Fraser

Born 1946

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0179 LAWYER

Allan Rock

Born 1947

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0186 WRITER

Eric Wilson (author)

Born 1940

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0189 HOCKEY

Jim McKenny

Born 1946

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0191 SINGER

Wayne Rostad

Born 1947

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0203 POLITICIAN

Bob Chiarelli

Born 1941

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0220 POLITICAL

Terry Mosher

Born 1942

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0243 ASTRONOMER

Christopher Aikman

Born 1943

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0251 WRITER

Elizabeth Abbott

Born 1946

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0264 SONGWRITER

William Hawkins (songwriter and poet)

1940 - 2016

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0290 POLITICIAN

Jim Peterson

Born 1941

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0294 HOCKEY

Terry Clancy

Born 1943

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0295 MUSIC

Peter Leitch (musician)

Born 1944

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0297 HOCKEY

Bill Collins (ice hockey)

Born 1943

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0298 MATHEMATICIAN

Charles Castonguay

Born 1940

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0299 ENGINEER

Walter Boyce

Born 1946

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0303 POLITICIAN

Barbara Hall (politician)

Born 1946

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0304 HOCKEY

Wayne Thomas (ice hockey)

Born 1947

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0308 PRIEST

Brendan O'Brien (bishop)

Born 1943

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0311 POLITICIAN

Robert de Cotret

1944 - 1999

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0320 HOCKEY

Mike Corrigan

Born 1946

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0335 ARTIST

Mira Falardeau

Born 1948

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0339 PIANIST

Christina Petrowska-Quilico

Born 1948

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0348 POLITICIAN

Larry O'Brien (Canadian politician)

Born 1949

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0354 PAINTER

Danièle Rochon

Born 1946

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0362 ECONOMIST

Marie-Josée Kravis

Born 1949

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0374 SINGER

Valdy

Born 1945

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0394 HOCKEY

Bill Inglis (ice hockey)

Born 1943

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0407 ACTOR

Pol Pelletier

Born 1947

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0411 NOVELIST

Anthony Hyde

Born 1946

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0422 NOVELIST

John MacLachlan Gray

Born 1946

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0439 ACTOR

Peter Blais

Born 1949

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0461 SPORT

Gerald Presley

Born 1942

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0487 HOCKEY

Rod Zaine

Born 1946

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0511 SINGER

Sneezy Waters

Born 1945

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0520 NOVELIST

Gail Scott (writer)

Born 1945

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0531 HOCKEY

Ray Cadieux

Born 1941

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0540 JUDGE

Dyson Heydon

Born 1943

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0547 SINGER

Terry Carisse

1942 - 2005

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0566 SINGER

Les Emmerson

Born 1944

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0569 CHEMIST

Robert J. LeRoy

1943 - 2018

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0578 MUSIC

Bill Stevenson (Canadian musician)

Born 1947

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0581 THEATRE

Guy Sprung

Born 1947

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0583 PRIEST

Jean-Louis Plouffe

Born 1940

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0584 HISTORIAN

Susan Mann

Born 1941

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0588 FILM

André Gladu

Born 1945

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0591 POLITICIAN

Garry Guzzo

Born 1941

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0592 HISTORIAN

Hélène Beauchamp

Born 1943

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0594 FILM

John Palmer (director)

1943 - 2020

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0604 PHYSICIST

Hamish Robertson

Born 1943

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0614 MUSIC

Gene Cornish

Born 1944

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0622 ROWER

Mike Neary

Born 1948

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0635 COMMANDER

Jean Boyle

Born 1947

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0639 HOCKEY

Brian Smith (ice hockey, born 1940)

1940 - 1995

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0649 POLITICIAN

Norm Sterling

Born 1942

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0657 NOVELIST

Roy MacSkimming

Born 1944

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0659 HOCKEY

Paul-André Cadieux

Born 1947

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0661 OFFICER

Jean-Pierre Kingsley

Born 1943

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0699 POLITICIAN

Barry Turner (politician)

Born 1946

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0702 WRITER

Gilles Lacombe

Born 1946

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0713 POLITICIAN

Bud Wildman

Born 1946

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0716 ACADEMIC

David Lyle Jeffrey

Born 1941

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0720 BUSINESS

Suzanne Labarge

Born 1940

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0728 POLITICIAN

François Beaulne

Born 1946

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0735 POLITICIAN

Ricca Slone

Born 1947

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0780 COMPUTER SCIENTIST

Eric Hehner

Born 1947

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0793 FOOTBALL

Jim Foley

Born 1946

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0797 WRITER

Susan Wood (literary scholar)

1948 - 1980

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0799 HOCKEY

Murray Kuntz

Born 1945

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0819 FOOTBALL

Dan Dever

Born 1946

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0822 BASEBALL

George Korince

Born 1946

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0826 DIPLOMAT

Terence Colfer

Born 1942

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0829 FILM

Ginny Stikeman

Born 1941

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0832 FOOTBALL

Mike Blum

1943 - 2008

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0834 GANG

Paddy Mitchell

1942 - 2007

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0842 FOOTBALL

Dale Potter

Born 1949

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0844 HOCKEY

Andre Champagne

Born 1943

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0849 PUPPETEER

Stephen Brathwaite

Born 1949

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0878 DIPLOMAT

Mike Wadsworth

1943 - 2004

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0881 SPORT

John Primrose (sport shooter)

Born 1942

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0892 FOOTBALL

Tom Pullen

Born 1945

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0915 MEDICAL

Connie Eaves

Born 1944

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0926 HOCKEY

Ted Snell

Born 1946

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0948 FOOTBALL

Tom Schultz (Canadian football)

Born 1947

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0953 FOOTBALL

Terry Black (Canadian football)

Born 1947

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0973 FOOTBALL

Barry Ardern

Born 1946

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0986 FOOTBALL

Rick Black

Born 1943

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1000 ACADEMIC

Terry White (academic)

Born 1943

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1024 ACADEMIC

William Halperin

Born 1945

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1030 SCHOLAR

Joseph Philip Robert Murray

Born 1943

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1034 SPRINT

Joan Fisher

Born 1949

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1041 POLITICIAN

Norman Warner

1943 - 2014

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1053 POET

Michel A. Thérien

Born 1947

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1068 PRODUCER

Paul Blissett

Born 1945

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1097 FOOTBALL

Paul Desjardins

Born 1943

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1102 SPORT

Joey Kilburn

Born 1949

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1107 SPORT

William Dunn (bobsleigh)

Born 1949

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1159 POLITICIAN

Roger Kimmerly

Born 1948

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1170 DIPLOMAT

Donald P. McLennan

Born 1940

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