Celebrities from your hometown.

[Gil T.Azell]

Here are some from Victoria BC and Vancouver Island.

Celebrities of the Vancouver Island region:

• Atom Egoyan, Filmmaker (raised in Victoria)
• Barry Pepper, Actor (born in Campbell River)
• Brendan Fletcher, Actor (born in Comox Valley)
• Cameron Bright, Actor (born in Victoria)
• Cam Neely, Athlete – hockey (born in Comox)
• David Foster, Musician/Producer (born in Victoria)
• Diana Krall, Jazz Musician (born in Nanaimo)
• Emily Carr, Painter/Writer (born in Victoria)
• Jeff Courtnall, Athlete – hockey (born in Duncan)
• Jodelle Ferland, Actor (born in Nanaimo)
• Justin Chatwin, Actor (born in Nanaimo)
• Kim Cattrall, Actor (raised in Comox Valley)
• Nelly Furtado, Singer/Songwriter (born in Victoria)
• Pamela Anderson, Actor (born in Ladysmith, raised in Comox Valley)
• Randy Bachman, Musician (lives on Salt Spring Island)
• Raymond Law, Actor (born in Victoria)
• Rick Hansen, Wheelchair Athlete (born in Port Alberni)
• Robert Bateman, Painter (lives on Salt Spring Island)
• Russ Courtnall, Athlete – hockey (born in Duncan)
• Steve Nash, Athlete – basketball (raised in Victoria)

I may have missed some?

 

[iguana_tonante]

^ Is that the same Marconi that transmitted the first wireless message across the Atlantic?

Yep. He was one of the pioneers of radio transmissions.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I searched IMDB quickly, found none born from my birth town, or current city I live in.

 

[Canadave]

^ Is that the same Marconi that transmitted the first wireless message across the Atlantic?

Yep. He was one of the pioneers of radio transmissions.

Yeah, I know. Most Canadians learn about him in school, due to the Newfoundland connection.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Late to the party. Most of them will be completely obscure for most people here, but still:

Luigi Galvani (1737–1798, physicist and physician)
Guercino (1591–1666, painter)
Irnerius (1050–1125, jurist)
Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937, physicist and inventor)
Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975, poet and director)
Alberto Tomba (1966-living, alpine skier)
Alex Zanardi (1966-living, racing driver)
Umberto Eco (1932-living, novelist and philosopher)
Saint Petronius (V century, Catholic bishop)
Romano Prodi (1939-living, former Italian Premier)
Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868, classical music composer)

Alex Zanardi and Alberto Tomba are still cool. Romano Prodi, less so.

And as for the legendary Rossini.... doesn't get much more legendary than him.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Yep. He was one of the pioneers of radio transmissions.

Yeah, I know. Most Canadians learn about him in school, due to the Newfoundland connection.

Cool. He is probably one of our most renowned citizens. City's airport is even named the "Guglielmo Marconi Airport".

Alex Zanardi and Alberto Tomba are still cool. Romano Prodi, less so.

Yeah, Alex Zanardi is really a champion, both on the racetrack and in real life. His achievements after the accident where he lost both legs are nothing short of amazing. No idea if Alberto Tomba was actually famous outside of Italy, but he's still loved around here. Romano Prodi is a politician: assessments of his character are strictly functional to your mileage.

And as for the legendary Rossini.... doesn't get much more legendary than him.

William Tell FTW!

 

[B.J.]

Although not technically my hometown anymore, I grew up in Gainesville, GA. There's several listed in Wikipedia, most I've never heard of, but I the ones I know of are astronauts John Casper and Rachel Hatchett.

There's also the bass player for the Zac Brown Band, John Hopkins, who I actually knew personally when growing up. He was three years ahead of me in school, and we were in the same Boy Scout troop. *That* was a shocker when I first heard about it about a year ago!

 

[Tan Ru]

Magic Johnson.

But then, I'm not a hoops fan....

 

[C.E. Evans]

Long list of folks born in St. Louis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_St._Louis

Just the ones I've actually heard of:
Scott Bakula
Chuck Berry
Linda Blair
William S. Burroughs
Kate Capshaw
Harry Caray
Nell Carter
Sheryl Crow
Miles Davis
Phyllis Diller
Buddy Ebsen
T. S. Eliot
Redd Foxx
Betty Grable
Robert Guillaume
Scott Joplin
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Kevin Kline
Charles Lindbergh
Michael McDonald
Agnes Moorehead
Dan O'Bannon
Marlin Perkins
Vincent Price
William Tecumseh Sherman
Ozzie Smith
Ike Turner
Tina Turner
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
Tennessee Williams
Shelley Winters

Yeah, but I'd add the following just as a special shout-out:
Akon (one of the biggest stars in music right now)
Maya Angelou (everyone should know her)
Fred Berry (ReRun from What's Happening)
C.J. Cherryh (sci-fi writer)
Sarah Clarke (from 24)
Jimmy Connors (tennis legend)
Bob Costas (sportscaster, generally does the Olympics)
Max Factor
John Goodman (from Rosanne)
Laurell K. Hamilton (author--helped start today's big urban horror craze)
Albert King (blues great)
Jim Lee (one of the biggest names in comic books today)
Nelly (rapper-"It's gettin' hot in herre")

 

[M'Sharak]

Originally from Monterey <snip>

And a lot of people don't know Frank Zappa lived there for awhile as a child.

I did know that, in fact, though I'd half-forgotten. His father taught for a while at the Naval Postgraduate School there.

Most of the well-known people from my hometown were born in the 1700's. So, I'll go with a random sampling from my current city, which is about 20 miles from my previous city:
<snippity>

and

ZAPPA!

That's cool news! Now I know What's New in Baltimore.

Joan Van Ark and Jessica Biel went to the high school across town from the one I went to. I stood behind Matt Richtel, who writes the comic strip 'Rudy Park' under the name Theron Heir, in choir back in high school and made him concentrate on his singing more ( I sang bass to his tenor). He graduated the year after I did.

The guy who was his Theron Heir's partner on that strip is a member here.


From the town where I attended intermediate school and high school and where I'm again living now, Wikipedia says:

Corky Miller - professional baseball player with the Cincinnati Reds
Mark Teahen - professional baseball player with the Kansas City Royals
Matt Carson - professional baseball player with the Oakland Athletics
Susan Anton - Miss California in 1969 and an actress on Baywatch
Noble Johnson - actor

I don't know anything much about the ballplayers. Susan Anton's younger sister was in my class in high school. The last name, Noble Johnson, belonged to an African-American actor who appeared in many silent films; he wasn't born here, but he died here.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Billy Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt attended (Billy Joe dropped out) the high school in my city (Pinole).

Also, James Rogan, a former member of the House of Representatives, as well as Under-Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and so on, attended and dropped out from Pinole Valley High School.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

There are far, far too many famous people from Toronto to try to list them all. However, some of the people who might be known here are Christopher Plummer, Enrico Colantoni, Howie Mandel, Jeff Healey, John Candy, Lexa Doig, Michael Ironside, Morley Safer, Norman Jewison, Pat Mastroianni, Sarah Polley and Will Arnett. Robert J. Sawyer (author of the novel FlashForward, on which the TV show is based) lives just west of Toronto, though he's originally from Ottawa.

 

[DeafPoet]

Here are some from Victoria BC and Vancouver Island.

Celebrities of the Vancouver Island region:

• Atom Egoyan, Filmmaker (raised in Victoria)
• Barry Pepper, Actor (born in Campbell River)
• Brendan Fletcher, Actor (born in Comox Valley)
• Cameron Bright, Actor (born in Victoria)
• Cam Neely, Athlete – hockey (born in Comox)
• David Foster, Musician/Producer (born in Victoria)
• Diana Krall, Jazz Musician (born in Nanaimo)
• Emily Carr, Painter/Writer (born in Victoria)
• Jeff Courtnall, Athlete – hockey (born in Duncan)
• Jodelle Ferland, Actor (born in Nanaimo)
• Justin Chatwin, Actor (born in Nanaimo)
• Kim Cattrall, Actor (raised in Comox Valley)
• Nelly Furtado, Singer/Songwriter (born in Victoria)
• Pamela Anderson, Actor (born in Ladysmith, raised in Comox Valley)
• Randy Bachman, Musician (lives on Salt Spring Island)
• Raymond Law, Actor (born in Victoria)
• Rick Hansen, Wheelchair Athlete (born in Port Alberni)
• Robert Bateman, Painter (lives on Salt Spring Island)
• Russ Courtnall, Athlete – hockey (born in Duncan)
• Steve Nash, Athlete – basketball (raised in Victoria)

I may have missed some?

You may or may not have forgotten Matthew Good, one of my favourite rock musicians of all time. Dude may be from Coquitlam but I think he's definitely a product of Vancouver.