I’m Absolutely Certain You Had No Idea These 21 Celebs Were Actually Raised In Canada

As a Canadian, I feel like I learn that a new celeb has roots in Canada every day. And I never fail to meet the news with total shock and excitement. But whether you’re Canadian or not, strap in — because you’re about to learn about the super interesting, lesser-known Canadian backgrounds of a bunch of celebs.

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I’ve decided to narrow the list to people who aren’t VERY OBVIOUSLY Canadian. So, like, not Drake or Justin Bieber. Soooooorry.

Kamala Harris

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This Presidential candidate spent her middle school and high school years in Montreal, where she attended Westmount High School. She also went to Vanier College for a year in Montreal before moving to Washington, D.C. But why’d she move to Montreal in the first place? Her mom accepted a job at McGill University.

“I was 12 years old, and the thought of moving away from sunny California in February, in the middle of the school year, to a French-speaking foreign city covered in 12 feet of snow was distressing,” she wrote in her memoir. But it sounds like Harris quickly got accustomed to the Canadian lifestyle!

Bowen Yang

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This SNL icon moved to Canada from Australia when he was a baby, and spent his childhood in Montreal before moving to Denver. He’s spoken about how “heartbreaking” it was for him to leave Canada at the time, and how his first language was actually French. He’s a true Canadian at heart!

Elon Musk

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Every person on the planet knows who Elon Musk is. But I bet a pretty small percentage know he’s Canadian — he wasn’t born a Canadian citizen, but became one later on through his mom, who is Canadian as well.

Elon was born in South Africa, but he moved to Canada when he was 17 and went to Queen’s University before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania two years later. So he spent a good bit of time here in Canada.

I’ll also mention that Elon’s ex, Grimes — a singer with whom he shares three children — is also Canadian. She’s from Vancouver.

Tom Cruise

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Tom also spent a few years in Canada during the 1970s — specifically Ottawa (which is Canada’s capital, if you didn’t know). He moved over here for his dad’s job and went to Robert Hopkins Public School, where he started acting! So technically, his acting *actually* started up here in Canada.

Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson

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Brendan Fraser

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The Whale star Brendan Fraser spent many formative years in Toronto in the 1980s. He wasn’t born in Canada, but he ended up going to boarding school at Upper Canada College (UCC), and he was in the school play there. So you could say he started acting in Canada, too.

“My stomping grounds were Yonge and St. Clair,” he said in an interview last year. “I spent a lot of time at the Eaton Centre as a teenager.” And us Toronto folk know exactly what he’s talking about.

Avan Jogia

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Avan, who you might know as Beck from Victorious — or from being Halsey’s fiancé — was born in Vancouver. There, he went to Killarney Secondary School until he was 17, when he moved to Los Angeles to become an actor.

He’s since told us a bit about his life growing up in Canada, including reading Edgar Allen Poe in grade 3 and having his first kiss at school in grade 9. So it looks like he had a true Canadian childhood just like the rest of us.

Matthew Perry

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Although he wasn’t born here, Matthew spent his childhood in Canada, specifically in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. His mom worked for the Prime Minister at the time, Pierre Trudeau, so Matthew Perry knew Canada’s current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, pretty well — believe it or not, he beat him up when he was in grade 5.

Jim Carrey

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Maybe you knew this one, or maybe you forgot like I always do. But here’s your reminder: Jim Carrey is indeed Canadian!

His acting career also started in Toronto, where he grew up — his first gigs were at Yuk Yuks comedy club in Toronto when he was 15 years old. He also performed at more comedy clubs around the country, quickly gaining more and more popularity, and moved to the US at age 19.

10.

Kim Cattrall

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You might know that this “Sex and the City” star was born in the UK, but did you know she’s also Canadian? Her family moved to British Columbia when she was a baby, and she grew up on Vancouver Island. She moved back and forth between Canada and the UK, but she did spend ages 0-11 all in Canada.

11.

Patrick J. Adams

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Any Suits fans? Perhaps you didn’t know Patrick J. Adams, who plays Mike, was born and raised in Toronto. When he was 19, he moved to Los Angeles — like they alllll do — where he started his acting career. But funny enough, a lot of Suits was actually filmed in Toronto, so he moved back home for the show.

12.

Lorne Michaels

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13.

Nathan Fillion

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Don’t worry, Alberta, I didn’t forget about you! Nathan Fillion, who you might know from the TV shows Castle and Firefly, was born in Edmonton to two English teachers. He went to university in Alberta, too, and did lots of improv theatre, before moving to New York in 1994.

14.

Margaret Atwood

Tara Ziemba

I’m pretty sure every Canadian knows that Margaret Atwood, who wrote The Handmaid’s Tale, is from Canada (specifically, she’s from Ottawa). But many Americans probably have no clue that she’s honoured as arguably the most famous author in the country.

Like Lorne Michaels, she too went to the University of Toronto to study English, and then went to Harvard in 1962. Her first novel came out in 1969.

15.

Donald Sutherland

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The M*A*S*H* and The Hunger Games star was an absolute Canadian legend. Donald was actually born in Saint John, New Brunswick, and yep, he also went to the University of Toronto for English. (I’ll also note here that Kiefer Sutherland, his son, is also Canadian.)

He went to the UK to pursue theatre and of course became a super famous on-screen after that, but he was a true Canadian.

16.

Keanu Reeves

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Although born in Lebanon, Keanu is Canadian. He and his family also lived in Sydney and New York, but he grew up in Toronto. It’s also where he started acting — his first role in a movie was as a hockey player in Youngblood, a film that came out in 1986. I know, super Canadian of him!

17.

Hannah Simone

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You definitely know Hannah as Cece from New Girl, but maybe you’re not aware she’s Canadian. Although she was born in London, England, she grew up in Calgary, Alberta.

And not only is she Canadian, but she played a pretty important role in the Canadian pop culture scene, at least in my opinion. She not only hosted MuchMusic, which is nothing short of iconic, but she also hosted the design show “Space for Living” on HGTV Canada. After that, she continued hosting and acting in LA.

18.

deadmau5, AKA Joel Zimmerman

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deadmau5 not only has 7 GRAMMY nominations, but he’s also just a super well-known DJ — I bet you’d recognize at least one of his songs, even if you don’t know him by name. Well, he’s Canadian. He was born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and he still lives in Canada (at least some of the time).

19.

Cobie Smulders

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This How I Met Your Mother legend is from British Columbia — she was born and raised in an area called White Rock, but she also lived in Vancouver as a teenager.

Colbie started acting in high school theatre productions at Lord Byng Secondary School, and accepted an offer at University of British Columbia for marine biology, but then decided to move to New York to become an actress. And hey, it was a smart move!

20.

Martin Short

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This is another one that’s preeeetty well-known among Canadians, but might not be as obvious to Americans. You might know Martin from SNL back in the day, or Only Murders in the Building — but if you’re like me, you know him as the guy who may or may not be dating Meryl Streep.

But rumours aside — Martin is from Hamilton, Ontario, and started performing at a young age. He went to McMaster University, which is right in his hometown, and actually met fellow comedian and Canadian icon Eugene Levy there! How adorable!!!

21.

Devon Sawa

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The Casper and Now & Then actor was born in Vancouver, Canada, so believe it or not, he’s a Canadian at heart. Devon started in the theatre world as a kid and moved to the big screen later on, but honestly, I’m sure a lot of us know him as just being a super popular ’90s heartthrob.

He lives in LA now. But recently, he did go to Winnipeg, Manitoba to film a movie, and posted about how annoying the traffic is there. And funny enough, in a 2022 interview, he said people often mix him up with The Rock — maybe it has something to do with both actors’ Canadian roots?

Any other celebs who people might not know are Canadian Tell us in the comments, and make sure to follow BuzzFeed Canada on Instagram and TikTok for more Canadian content 🇨🇦