43.6704° N, 79.3868° W
TORONTO
Most Famous People Born in Toronto, Canada
- Notable people
- 4,438
- Peak decade
- 1950s
- Median birth year
- 1956
- Most distinctive
- Hockey 12.0×
A hockey town with a film industry on the side. Hockey alone accounts for one in seven of Toronto's notable births, and the distinctive-profession list reads like a Canadian winter — ice hockey players at twelve times the global rate, figure skaters, rowers, and novelists close behind. Almost nothing here predates Confederation; the city's notables fan out from the late 19th century into a steady bench of actors, musicians, and filmmakers.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Toronto during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 570 notable births.
What Toronto Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Hockey is Toronto's biggest profession — 14% of all notables (633).
Toronto over-indexes on hockey — 12.0× the global rate.
Toronto under-produces football — only 0.6× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Toronto's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Politics & Law
- Music
- Writing
- Science
- Other
- Field: Writer Clear ×
Lisa Jakub
Born 1978
Ed Greenwood
Born 1959
Timothy Findley
1930 - 2002
Alan Bradley (writer)
Born 1938
Erik von Markovik
Born 1971
John Clute
Born 1940
Lisi Harrison
Born 1970
Marian Engel
1933 - 1985
Sean Russell (author)
Born 1952
Bruce Fogle
Born 1944
Sheila Heti
Born 1976
James Bacque
1929 - 2019
Craig Davidson
Born 1976
Vincent Starrett
1886 - 1974
Rivka Galchen
Born 1976
Mavor Moore
1919 - 2006
Mariko Tamaki
Born 1975
Eric Walters
Born 1957
Ian Hamilton (writer)
Born 1946
Alwyn Hamilton
Born 1988
Michael Bedard
Born 1949
Steve Mackall
Born 1959
Harry Rasky
1928 - 2007
Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt
Born 1930
Jean-Louis Trudel
Born 1967
Kathy Kacer
Born 1954
Brenda Clark
Born 1955
John Steffler
Born 1947
Dan Signer
-
Karleen Bradford
Born 1936
Ross Parmenter
1912 - 1999
Dennis Lee (author)
Born 1939
Jennifer Lanthier
Born 1964
Robert Thomas Allen
1911 - 1990
M. L. Longworth
Born 1963
Michelle Rowen
Born 1971
Andrew Podnieks
Born 1962
Alex Tapscott
Born 1950
Douglas Anthony Cooper
Born 1960
John Herbert (playwright)
1926 - 2001
Margaret Bloy Graham
1920 - 2015
Kathryn Borel
Born 1979
Claire Mowat
Born 1933
Kate O'Hearn
Born 1950
Charles Officer
Born 1976
Charles Foran
Born 1960
Ted Barris
Born 1949
Susan G. Cole
Born 1952
Ruth Nichols (author)
Born 1948
Marjorie Gross
1956 - 1996
Liane Davey
Born 1972
J. Robert Janes
Born 1935
Donald MacKenzie (écrivain canadien)
1918 - 1993
Maggie Siggins
Born 1942
Bernice Thurman Hunter
1922 - 2002
Simon Strantzas
Born 1972
Elisha Lim
Born 1978
Susan Ioannou
Born 1944
Christina Cameron
-
Jim Van Horne
Born 1950
Barbara Reid
Born 1957
Adam H. Dickey
1864 - 1925
M. H. Murray
Born 1993
Alfred Harris
Born 1928
Alice Priestley
Born 1962
Ladyfag
Born 1976
David Ben
Born 1961
Dan Needles
-
John Birke
Born 1981
Adrienne Kress
-
Janet McNaughton
Born 1953
Jack Soren
Born 1962
Cheryl Rainfield
Born 1972
Lesley-Anne Scorgie
Born 1984
Sean Chercover
Born 1966
Wilfrid Heighington
1897 - 1945
Andrea Syrtash
-
Jewel Kats
1978 - 2016
Heather Elizabeth Apple
Born 1948
Drew McCreadie
Born 1967
Kate Cayley
-
Mark J. Dworkin
1946 - 2012
Deanna Kamiel
1946 - 2018
Audax Minor
1887 - 1979
Basil Papademos
Born 1957