100 Notable alumni of
McGill University
McGill University is 71st in the world, 38th in North America, and 2nd in Canada by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from McGill University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 14 individuals affiliated with McGill University won Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
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Justin Trudeau
- Enrolled in McGill University
- In 1994 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in literary studies
- Occupations
- politicianteacheractor
- Biography
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Justin Pierre James Trudeau is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada since November 2015 and the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013. Trudeau is the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history after Joe Clark; he is also the first to be the child or other relative of a previous holder of the post, as the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau.
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Leonard Cohen
- Enrolled in McGill University
- 1951-1955 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- singer-songwriterpoetstreet artistnovelistwriter
- Biography
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Leonard Norman Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death and romantic relationships. Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. In 2011, Cohen received one of the Prince of Asturias Awards for literature and the ninth Glenn Gould Prize.
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Grimes
- Occupations
- musiciansingercomposerdirectorblogger
- Biography
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Claire Elise Boucher, known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her music incorporates varied styles, including dream pop, synth-pop, art pop, electronic, experimental pop, R&B, and hip hop. She has released five studio albums, two extended plays, eleven singles, and four promotional singles.
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Jordan Peterson
- Occupations
- clinical psychologistuniversity teachercultural criticwriter
- Biography
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Jordan Bernt Peterson is a Canadian professor of psychology, clinical psychologist, YouTube personality, and author. He began to receive widespread attention in the late 2010s for his views on cultural and political issues, often described as conservative.
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William Shatner
- Occupations
- television actorfilm actorsingerfilm directoractor
- Biography
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William Shatner is a Canadian actor, author, producer, director, screenwriter, and singer. In his seven decades of acting, he became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the Star Trek franchise.
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Christopher Plummer
- Occupations
- television actorfilm actorvoice actorcharacter actorstage actor
- Biography
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Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining recognition for his performances in film, television and theatre. He made his Broadway debut in 1954 and continued to act in leading roles on stage playing Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano (1974), Iago in Othello, as well as playing the titular roles in Hamlet at Elsinore (1964), Macbeth, King Lear, and Barrymore. Plummer performed in stage productions, including J.B., No Man's Land and Inherit the Wind.
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Mackenzie Davis
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Mackenzie Rio Davis is a Canadian actress, producer, and model. She made her feature film debut in Smashed (2012), and later appeared in Breathe In (2013), What If (2013), That Awkward Moment (2014), The Martian (2015), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and Happiest Season (2020). She received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for The F Word (2013). From 2014 to 2017, she starred as computer programmer Cameron Howe in the television series Halt and Catch Fire. She also co-starred in the "San Junipero" episode of the television series Black Mirror. In 2019, she starred as the augmented super-soldier Grace in Terminator: Dark Fate opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton.
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Laurie Holden
- Occupations
- television actorfilm actorfilm producerhuman rights activiststage actor
- Biography
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Heather Laurie Holden is an American-Canadian actress, producer, model, and human rights activist. She is known for her roles as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files (1996–2002), Adele Stanton in The Majestic (2001), Cybil Bennett in Silent Hill (2006), Amanda Dumfries in The Mist (2007), Olivia Murray in The Shield (2008), Andrea in The Walking Dead (2010–2013; 2020), Renee in The Americans (2017–2018) and Crimson Countess in The Boys (2021).
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Charles Krauthammer
- Occupations
- physiciancolumnistpunditpsychiatristwriter
- Biography
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Charles Krauthammer was an American political columnist. A conservative political pundit, Krauthammer won the Pulitzer Prize for his column in The Washington Post in 1987. His weekly column was syndicated to more than 400 publications worldwide.
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Burt Bacharach
- Occupations
- pianistcomposersongwriterfilm score composersinger
- Biography
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Burt Freeman Bacharach is an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach's songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists. As of 2014, he had written 73 US and 52 UK Top 40 hits. He is considered one of the most important composers of 20th-century popular music.
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James Naismith
- Occupations
- inventorbasketball coachwriterclericphysician
- Biography
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James Naismith was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, sports coach, and inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United States, he wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program. Naismith lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Tournament (1939).
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Zbigniew Brzezinski
- Enrolled in McGill University
- Studied in 1945-1950
- Occupations
- geopoliticianpolitical scientistpedagogueuniversity teacherauthor
- Biography
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Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. As a scholar, Brzezinski belonged to the realist school of international relations, standing in the geopolitical tradition of Halford Mackinder and Nicholas J. Spykman. Brzezinski was the primary organizer of The Trilateral Commission.
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Jessalyn Gilsig
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorvoice actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Jessalyn Sarah Gilsig is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Lauren Davis in Boston Public, Gina Russo in Nip/Tuck, Terri Schuester in Glee, and as Siggy Haraldson in Vikings.
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Mia Kirshner
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Mia Kirshner is a Canadian actress, writer and social activist. She is known for television roles as Mandy in 24 (2001–2005), as Jenny Schecter in The L Word (2004–2009), and as Amanda Grayson in Star Trek: Discovery (2017–present). Her film credits include Love and Human Remains (1993), Exotica (1994), The Crow: City of Angels (1996), Mad City (1997), Not Another Teen Movie (2001) and The Black Dahlia (2006).
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Rachelle Lefevre
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Rachelle Marie Lefèvre is a Canadian actress. She has starred in the television series Big Wolf on Campus and had recurring roles in What About Brian, Boston Legal, and Swingtown. She played the vampire Victoria Sutherland in the first two films of the Twilight saga. In 2011, she starred in the ABC medical drama Off the Map, followed by the CBS series A Gifted Man (2011–2012) and Under the Dome (2013–2015).
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Samantha Bee
- Occupations
- journalistactortelevision actorscreenwritervoice actor
- Biography
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Samantha Anne Bee is a Canadian-American comedienne, writer, producer, political commentator, actress, and television host. Bee rose to fame as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where she became the longest-serving regular correspondent. In 2015, she departed the show after 12 years to start her own show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
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Rufus Wainwright
- Occupations
- composersinger-songwriterpianistsingermusician
- Biography
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Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded nine albums of original music and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set Shakespeare's sonnets to music for a theater piece by Robert Wilson.
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Steven Pinker
- Enrolled in McGill University
- In 1976 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in psychology
- Occupations
- psychologistlinguistanthropologistphilosopheruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and popular science author. He is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind.
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Evan Goldberg
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm producerfilm directorexecutive producer
- Biography
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Evan Goldberg is a Canadian screenwriter, film and television producer, comedian and television and film director. He has collaborated with his childhood friend Seth Rogen on the films Superbad, Pineapple Express, This Is the End, The Interview, and Good Boys.
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Julie Payette
- Occupations
- astronautengineerpolitician
- Biography
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Julie Payette is a Canadian engineer, scientist and former astronaut who served as Governor General of Canada from 2017 to 2021, the 29th since Canadian Confederation.
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Hume Cronyn
- Occupations
- screenwriterstage actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Hume Blake Cronyn Jr., OC was a Canadian actor of stage and screen, who enjoyed a long career, often appearing professionally alongside Jessica Tandy, his wife of over fifty years.
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Drew Goddard
- Occupations
- film directorscreenwriterwriterexecutive producerfilm producer
- Biography
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Andrew Brion Hogan Goddard is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He began his career writing episodes for the television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias, and Lost. After moving into screenwriting in film, he created the well-received motion pictures Cloverfield (2008), The Cabin in the Woods (2011; also his directorial debut), World War Z (2013), and The Martian (2015), the latter earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Conrad Black
- Occupations
- politicianhistorianpublisherautobiographerbiographer
- Biography
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Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, KCSG, is a Canadian-born British former newspaper publisher and writer.
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Cameron Mathison
- Occupations
- actorengineerfilm actormodeltelevision actor
- Biography
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Cameron Arthur Mathison is a Canadian-American actor and television host. From 1997 to 2011, he played the role of Ryan Lavery on All My Children.
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Jessica Mulroney
- Years
- 1980-.. (age 42)
- Occupations
- personal stylisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Jessica Mulroney is a Canadian fashion stylist and marketing consultant, noted for her previous work with Kleinfeld Bridal (Hudson's Bay), past guest appearances on television shows Good Morning America and CityLine, and hosting of I Do, Redo. She is a Canadian fashion advocate and contributor to Sunwing's Wedding Vacations magazine.
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Mike Babcock
- Occupations
- ice hockey playerice hockey coach
- Biography
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Michael Babcock Jr. is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach currently serving as head coach of University of Saskatchewan men's ice hockey program. He previously spent parts of eighteen seasons as head coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). He began as head coach of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, whom he led to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. In 2005, Babcock signed with the Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup with them in 2008, and helping them to the Stanley Cup playoffs every year during his tenure, becoming the winningest coach in Red Wings history. In 2015, he left Detroit after ten seasons to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs, a position he held until 2019.
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Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
- Occupations
- gridiron football playerCanadian football playerAmerican football player
- Biography
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Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is a Canadian gridiron football guard for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played university football at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is the fourth medical school graduate to play in the NFL. Duvernay-Tardif was the first player to opt out of the 2020 NFL season due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic and he returned to the medical field in Canada. As a result of his efforts on and off the field in 2020, he was named a co-winner of the Lou Marsh Award, given annually to Canada's top athlete.
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Win Butler
- Occupations
- songwritersingercomposerpoetguitarist
- Biography
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Edwin Farnham Butler III is an American-Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the co-founders of Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire. His wife Régine Chassagne and younger brother Will Butler are both members of the band.
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Henry Mintzberg Storch
- Occupations
- economistuniversity teachersociologistwriter
- Biography
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Henry Mintzberg is a Canadian academic and author on business and management. He is currently the Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he has been teaching since 1968.
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Charles Taylor
- Occupations
- writerphilosopheruniversity teachersociologistpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Charles Margrave Taylor is a Canadian philosopher from Montreal, Quebec, and professor emeritus at McGill University best known for his contributions to political philosophy, the philosophy of social science, the history of philosophy, and intellectual history. His work has earned him the Kyoto Prize, the Templeton Prize, the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy, and the John W. Kluge Prize.
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Chilly Gonzales
- Occupations
- pianistrecord producercomposerfilm score composerdisc jockey
- Biography
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Jason Charles Beck, professionally known as Chilly Gonzales, is a Grammy-winning Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer. Currently based in Cologne, Germany, he previously lived for several years in Paris. Gonzales is a true musical polymath, known for his MC rap albums, his collaborations with pop musicians like Feist and Drake, his albums of classical piano compositions (including the Solo Piano trilogy), and also for his collaborations with electronic musicians like Daft Punk and Boys Noize, the latter with whom he produces as Octave Minds.
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Wilfrid Laurier
- Occupations
- politicianlawyerjournalist
- Biography
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Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier GCMG, PC, KC was a Canadian politician and statesman who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada, in office from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911.
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Régine Chassagne
- Occupations
- singermusicianpianistsongwriter
- Biography
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Régine Alexandra Chassagne is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and multi-instrumentalist, and is a founding member of the band Arcade Fire. She is married to co-founder Win Butler.
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Gad Saad
- Occupations
- YouTuberpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Gad Saad is a Lebanese-Canadian evolutionary psychologist and professor in the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University who is known for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour. He also writes a blog for Psychology Today, and hosts a YouTube channel titled "The Saad Truth".
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Moshe Safdie
- Occupations
- architecturban plannerauthoruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Moshe Safdie OAA is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author who claims Israeli, Canadian and American citizenship. Over a 50-year career, Safdie has explored the essential principles of socially responsible design through a comprehensive and humane design philosophy. Safdie is an important architect of the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first century because of his multiculturalism, commitment to geographic, social and cultural elements that define a place, and constant search for typological and technological innovation. Safdie's projects include cultural, educational, and civic institutions; neighborhoods and public parks; housing; mixed-use urban centers; airports; and master plans for both existing communities and entirely new cities. Safdie has had projects in North and South America, the Middle East, and throughout Asia. He is most identified with designing Marina Bay Sands and Jewel Changi Airport, as well as his debut project, Habitat 67, originally conceived as his thesis at McGill University. This led to his international career. Safdie is considered a thought leader and his exemplary projects have inspired generations of architects and architecture.
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Eric Berne
- Occupations
- military physicianpsychologistpsychiatristacademicnon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Eric Berne was a Canadian-born psychiatrist who created the theory of transactional analysis as a way of explaining human behavior.
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Hans Selye
- Enrolled in McGill University
- In 1933 graduated with Doctor of Science
- Occupations
- physicianendocrinologistuniversity teacherpsychologistphysiologist
- Biography
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János Hugo Bruno "Hans" Selye CC, a pioneering Hungarian-Canadian endocrinologist, conducted important scientific work on the hypothetical non-specific response of an organism to stressors. Although he did not recognize all of the many aspects of glucocorticoids, Selye was aware of their role in the stress response. Charlotte Gerson considers him the first to demonstrate the existence of biological stress.
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Hubert Reeves
- Occupations
- science communicatorastrophysicistscience writer
- Biography
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Hubert Reeves, is a Canadian astrophysicist and popularizer of science.
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Kirsten Prout
- Occupations
- actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Kirsten Prout Zien is a Canadian actress. She is known for her lead roles in the ABC Family television shows, portraying Amanda Bloom in Kyle XY and Char Chamberlin in The Lying Game. Her first sizable break in film came in 2005, when she was cast as Abby Miller, a lead role opposite Jennifer Garner in Elektra. In 2007, Prout was nominated for Best Performance in a TV Series by the Young Artists Awards for Kyle XY. In 2010, Prout portrayed the vampire "Lucy" in Twilight Saga: Eclipse. She has guest starred in notable series including NCIS, Psych, Devious Maids, Ties That Bind and Dear White People. Prout is also known for her lead roles in the horror genre, as Alex Bell in the MTV film series My Super Psycho Sweet 16, Jewel McCaul in Joyride 3, and Sloane in the 2015 horror indie Even Lambs Have Teeth.
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Frances Oldham Kelsey
- Enrolled in McGill University
- In 1934 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- In 1935 graduated with Master of Science
- Occupations
- physicianpharmacologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey, CM was a Canadian-American pharmacologist and physician. As a reviewer for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), she refused to authorize thalidomide for market because she had concerns about the lack of evidence regarding the drug's safety. Her concerns proved to be justified when it was shown that thalidomide caused serious birth defects. Kelsey's career intersected with the passage of laws strengthening FDA oversight of pharmaceuticals. Kelsey was the second woman to receive the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, awarded to her by John F. Kennedy in 1962.
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Jack Layton
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacherpolitical scientist
- Biography
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John Gilbert Layton was a Canadian politician who served as the leader of the Official Opposition. He was leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and previously sat on Toronto City Council, occasionally holding the title of acting mayor or deputy mayor of Toronto during his tenure as city councillor. He was the member of Parliament (MP) for Toronto—Danforth from 2004 until his death.
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Anthony Lemke
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Roger Anthony Lemke is a Canadian television and film actor, best known for portraying Three on Syfy's science-fiction drama Dark Matter.
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Jade Raymond
- Occupations
- television presenterengineer
- Biography
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Jade Raymond is a Canadian video game creator, best known for helping create the Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs franchises, and for building the Ubisoft Toronto and EA Motive Studios. On 16 March 2021, Jade Raymond announced the founding of a new independent development team called Haven Entertainment.
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Yetide Badaki
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Yetide Badaki is a Nigerian-born American actress. She is best known for playing Bilquis on the Starz series American Gods.
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Alessandro Juliani
- Occupations
- voice actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Alessandro Juliani is a Canadian actor and singer. He is notable for playing the roles of Tactical Officer Lieutenant Felix Gaeta on the Sci-Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica, Emil Hamilton in Smallville, Jacapo Sinclair on The CW series The 100, and Dr. Cerberus on the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. He is also known for voicing the character L in the English version of the anime series Death Note and its live action films, as well as several other animation projects. Juliani provided the voice of Aaron Fox on Nexo Knights.
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Mani Haghighi
- Occupations
- film directorscreenwriteractor
- Biography
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Mani Haghighi born 4 May 1969, is an Iranian film director, writer, film producer and actor.
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Colin Ferguson
- Occupations
- actorfilm directortelevision actorfilm actortelevision director
- Biography
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Colin Ferguson is a Canadian/American actor, director and producer. He is known for playing Sheriff Jack Carter on the Syfy series Eureka, the Maytag Man, and Lewis on Then Came You.
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Douglas Coupland
- Occupations
- writersculptornovelistartistdesigner
- Biography
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Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist and artist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized the term such as McJob. He has published thirteen novels, two collections of short stories, seven non-fiction books, and a number of dramatic works and screenplays for film and television. He is a columnist for Financial Times. He is also a frequent contributor to The New York Times, e-flux journal, Dis, and Vice. His art exhibits include Everywhere Is Anywhere Is Anything Is Everything which was exhibited at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Royal Ontario Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, (now the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto) and Bit Rot at Rotterdam's Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art and the Villa Stuck.
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Savik Shuster
- Occupations
- journalisttelevision presentertelevision producer
- Biography
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Savik Shuster is a journalist and Ukrainian political TV shows anchor. He presented The Freedom By Savik Shuster and starting in 2005 Svoboda slova on ICTV. From December 2015 he produces and lead political talk shows on his independent 3S.tv, after he has been cancelled from several tycoon-owned TVs. In December 2016 3S.tv announced cease of activity and on 1 March 2017 the channel stopped broadcasting. According to official statement the reason thereof is business being no longer viable due to several litigations and corresponding financial constraints. All court cases were subsequently closed due to lack of substance. In 2019 Shuster came back to Ukraine as anchor of "Svoboda Slova Savika Shustera" at "Ukraina" TV channel.
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Mortimer Zuckerman
- Occupations
- editor-in-chiefpublisherjournalistbusinessperson
- Biography
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Mortimer Benjamin Zuckerman is a Canadian-American billionaire media proprietor, magazine editor, and investor. He is the co-founder, executive chairman and former CEO of Boston Properties, one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the US. Zuckerman is also the owner and publisher of U.S. News & World Report, where he serves as editor-in-chief. He formerly owned the New York Daily News, The Atlantic, and Fast Company. On the Forbes 2016 list of the world's billionaires, he was ranked No. 688 with a net worth of US$2.5 billion. As of January 2020, his net worth is estimated at US$ 3.0 billion.
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Ken Dryden
- Occupations
- ice hockey playerpoliticianwriterlawyerminister
- Biography
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Kenneth Wayne Dryden, is a Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, author, and former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender. He is an officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Dryden was a Liberal Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011, and served as a cabinet minister from 2004 to 2006. In 2017, Dryden was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history. He received the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2020.
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Michael Manley
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Michael Norman Manley ON OCC was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been described as a populist. According to opinion polls, he remains one of Jamaica's most popular prime ministers.
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Natasha Negovanlis
- Occupations
- actorsingerwriter
- Biography
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Natasha Negovanlis is a Canadian actress, writer, producer, and singer. She achieved international recognition for portraying Carmilla Karnstein in the web series Carmilla (2014–2016) and in the 2017 feature film based on the series.
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Yoshua Bengio
- Enrolled in McGill University
- In 1988 graduated with Master of Science in computer science
- 1988-1991 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in computer science
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering
- Occupations
- professorcomputer scientistartificial intelligence researcher
- Biography
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Yoshua Bengio is a Canadian computer scientist, most noted for his work on artificial neural networks and deep learning. He is a professor at the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at the Université de Montréal and scientific director of the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA).
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Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
- Occupations
- screenwriterplaywrightcomics artisttelevision producerwriter
- Biography
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Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is an American playwright, screenwriter, and comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the television series Glee, Big Love, Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. He is Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics.
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Catherine McKenna
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Catherine Mary McKenna is a Canadian Liberal politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Ottawa Centre in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election. She served as Minister of Environment and Climate Change in the Cabinet headed by Justin Trudeau and was then moved to Minister of Infrastructure and Communities in the reshuffle following the 2019 federal election. She announced in June 2021 that she will not stand in the next federal election.
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Thomas Mulcair
- Occupations
- lawyerpoliticianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Thomas Joseph Mulcair is a Canadian retired politician from Quebec who served as the leader of the Official Opposition from 2012 to 2015, and leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2012 to 2017. He represented the riding of Outremont in the House of Commons from 2007 to 2018 as a member of Parliament (MP).
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John Abbott
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892. He held office as the leader of the Conservative Party.
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Gail Simmons
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Gail Simmons is a Canadian food writer and cookbook author. She has served as a permanent judge on Bravo's Emmy-winning series Top Chef, since the show's inception in 2006. Simmons was previously the head critic on Top Chef Duels and host of Top Chef: Just Desserts, Bravo's pastry-focused spin-off of the Top Chef franchise. She was also co-host of The Feed, which aired in 2014 on FYI, A+E's new lifestyle network. In addition to her work on Top Chef, Gail makes frequent television appearances on NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America, among others. She has been featured in such publications as New York magazine, Travel + Leisure, GQ, People, Los Angeles Times, and more.
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Edgar Bronfman, Sr
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
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Edgar Miles Bronfman was a Canadian-American businessman. He worked for his family distilled beverage firm, Seagram, eventually becoming president, treasurer and CEO. As President of the World Jewish Congress, Bronfman is especially remembered for initiating diplomacy with the Soviet Union, which resulted in legitimizing the Hebrew language in USSR, and contributed to Soviet Jews being legally able to practice their own religion, as well as emigrate to Israel.
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Jennifer Irwin
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Jennifer Irwin is a Canadian actress best known for her roles as Dolly Durkins on IZombie and as Laurie Neustadt in the comedy Superstore.
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Kate McGarrigle
- Occupations
- singersinger-songwriter
- Biography
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Kate McGarrigle was a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter, who wrote and performed as a duo with her sister Anna McGarrigle.
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Robert W. Service
- Occupations
- war correspondentpoetwriternovelistautobiographer
- Biography
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Robert William Service was a British-Canadian poet and writer, often called "the Bard of the Yukon".
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Dick Pound
- Occupations
- juristlawyersquash playerswimmerchancellor
- Biography
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Richard William Duncan Pound, known as Dick Pound, is a Canadian swimming champion, lawyer, and spokesman for ethics in sport. He was the first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency and vice-president of the International Olympic Committee.
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Patrick Allen
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm actorbusinesspersontelevision actor
- Biography
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John Keith Patrick Allen was a British actor.
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Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
- Occupations
- politicianpsychologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga is a Latvian politician who served as the sixth President of Latvia from 1999 to 2007. She is the first woman to hold the post. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected for the second term in 2003.
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Peng Ming-min
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Peng Ming-min is a noted democracy activist, advocate of Taiwan independence, and politician. Arrested for sedition in 1964 for printing a manifesto advocating democracy in his native Taiwan, he escaped to Sweden, before taking a post as a university teacher in the United States. After 22 years in exile he returned to become the Democratic Progressive Party's first presidential candidate in Taiwan's first direct presidential election in 1996.
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Tim Wu
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Timothy Shiou-Ming Wu is an American attorney, legal scholar, political figure, and government official who served as a professor of law at Columbia University and was a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. He is known legally and academically for his enacted "Carterfone" proposal and other significant contributions to antitrust and wireless communications policy, and popularly, for coining the phrase network neutrality in his 2003 law journal article, Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination. In the late 2010s, Wu was a leading advocate for an antitrust lawsuit directed at the breakup of Facebook.
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Adam Gopnik
- Occupations
- writernovelistjournalistchildren's writer
- Biography
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Adam Gopnik is an American writer and essayist. He is best known as a staff writer for The New Yorker, to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir and criticism since 1986.
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Dillon Casey
- Occupations
- actorstage actortelevision actorscreenwriterfilm producer
- Biography
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Dillon Francis Casey is an American-born Canadian actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Sean Pierce in The CW action-thriller television series Nikita.
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Mike Lewis
- Occupations
- actormodeltelevision actor
- Biography
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Michael George William Lewis is an Indonesian actor and model. His father is a Canadian diplomat, while his mother is of Chinese-Malaysian descent. When he was still in high school, Lewis' father was stationed at the Canadian embassy in Jakarta. As of 2018, Lewis resides in Jakarta.
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John McCallum
- Occupations
- economistpoliticianuniversity teacherdiplomat
- Biography
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John McCallum is a Canadian politician, economist, diplomat and former university professor. A former Liberal Member of Parliament (MP), McCallum was the Canadian Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2019. He was asked for his resignation by Prime Minister Trudeau in 2019. As an MP, he represented the electoral district of Markham—Thornhill, and had previously represented Markham—Unionville and Markham. He is a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.
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John O'Keefe
- Occupations
- neurologistuniversity teacherpsychologist
- Biography
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John O'Keefe, is an American-British neuroscientist, psychologist and a professor at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour and the Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at University College London. He discovered place cells in the hippocampus, and that they show a specific kind of temporal coding in the form of theta phase precession. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2014, together with May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser; he has received several other awards. He has worked at the University College London for his entire career, but also held a part-time chair at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology at the behest of his Norwegian collaborators, the Mosers.
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Ralph Steinman
- Occupations
- biologistimmunologistphysicianresearcherprofessor
- Biography
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Ralph Marvin Steinman was a Canadian physician and medical researcher at Rockefeller University, who in 1973 discovered and named dendritic cells while working as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Zanvil A. Cohn, also at Rockefeller University. Steinman was one of the recipients of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
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Sam Roberts
- Occupations
- singer-songwritersingersongwriter
- Biography
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Sam Roberts is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has released six albums. His debut EP The Inhuman Condition, reached the Canadian charts in 2002. He and his bandmates have released three albums as Sam Roberts and four albums as Sam Roberts Band. He is also a member of Canadian supergroup Anyway Gang, who released their debut self-titled album in 2019. Roberts has been nominated, together with his band, for fifteen Juno Awards, winning six, including Artist of the Year twice (2004 and 2009) and Album of the Year once (2004).
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Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa
- Occupations
- politiciananthropologistlinguistuniversity teacherpsychologist
- Biography
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Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa was a Canadian-born American academic and politician of Japanese ancestry. A professor of English, he served as president of San Francisco State University and then as U.S. Senator from California from 1977 to 1983.
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Gerald Butts
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Gerald Michael Butts is a Canadian political consultant who served as the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from November 4, 2015 until his resignation on February 18, 2019. From 2008 to 2012, he was president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Canada, part of a global conservation organization. In 2014, Maclean's magazine declared Butts to be the fourteenth most powerful Canadian. As the former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Butts was praised as the architect behind the Liberal Party of Canada platform that led to their victory in October of 2015 and was one of the most senior staffers in the Office of the Prime Minister, along with Katie Telford.
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Kid Koala
- Occupations
- disc jockey
- Biography
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Eric San, aka Kid Koala, is a Canadian scratch DJ, music producer, theatre producer, film composer, multimedia-performer and visual artist. His career began as a scratch DJ in 1994. Kid Koala works with genres as eclectic as hip hop, ambient, alternative, contemporary classical, blues, classic rock and traditional jazz. He has released 5 solo albums on Ninja Tune, and 3 albums on Arts & Crafts Records, the most recent being Music To Draw To: IO featuring Trixie Whitley. He has also released two award-winning graphic novels: Nufonia Must Fall and Space Cadet. He has collaborated with artists such as Gorillaz, Deltron 3030, The Slew, Lovage, and The Afiara String Quartet.
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George Genereux
- Occupations
- athletesport shooter
- Biography
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George Patrick Genereux was a Canadian Gold medal-winning trap shooter and physician.
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Peter M. Lenkov
- Occupations
- writertelevision producerscreenwriterfilm producershowrunner
- Biography
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Peter M. Lenkov is a Canadian television and film writer, producer, and comic book author. He is best known as the showrunner of the reboot series Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, and Magnum P.I., all of which aired on CBS.
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Marc Tessier-Lavigne
- Occupations
- neuroscientistacademicuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Marc Trevor Tessier-Lavigne is a Canadian-born neuroscientist who is the 11th and current President of Stanford University. He holds dual citizenship of the United States and Canada. Previously, he was a professor at the University of California, San Francisco and then president of Rockefeller University in New York City. He was formerly Executive Vice President for research and the Chief Scientific Officer at Genentech. He was the first industry executive to assume the Rockefeller presidency. He is also a member of the Cure Alzheimer's Fund's Scientific Advisory Board. As of 2021, he is on the boards of directors of Denali Therapeutics and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, as well as the scientific advisory boards of Denali Therapeutics and Agios Pharmaceuticals.
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Jack Szostak
- Enrolled in McGill University
- In 1971 graduated with Bachelor of Science in cell biology
- Occupations
- biologistmolecular biologistgeneticistprofessorbiochemist
- Biography
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Jack William Szostak is a Canadian American biologist of Polish British descent, Nobel Prize laureate, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, and Alexander Rich Distinguished Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Szostak has made significant contributions to the field of genetics. His achievement helped scientists to map the location of genes in mammals and to develop techniques for manipulating genes. His research findings in this area are also instrumental to the Human Genome Project. He was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, along with Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol W. Greider, for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres.
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Andrew Miller
- Occupations
- actorwriterscreenwriterfilm directortelevision actor
- Biography
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Andrew Miller is a Canadian actor, writer, and director. He is known for his role as Kazan in the 1997 science fiction horror film Cube and for playing Creon in the 2020 PBS adaptation of Oedipus Rex.
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Thomas D'Arcy McGee
- Occupations
- politicianjournalistwriterpoet
- Biography
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Thomas D'Arcy Etienne Grace Hughes McGee was an Irish-Canadian politician, Catholic spokesman, journalist, poet, and a Father of Canadian Confederation. The young McGee was a Catholic Irishman who opposed British rule of Ireland, and worked for a peasant revolution to overthrow British rule and secure Irish independence. He escaped arrest and fled to the United States in 1848, where he reversed his political beliefs. He became disgusted with American republicanism and democracy, and became intensely conservative in his politics and in his religious support for the Pope. He moved to Canada in 1857 and worked hard to convince the Irish Catholics to cooperate with the Protestant British (members of the church) in forming a Confederation that would make for a strong Canada in close alliance with Britain. His passion for Confederation garnered him the title: 'Canada's first nationalist'. He fought the Fenians in Canada, who were Irish Catholics that opposed the British and resembled his younger self politically. McGee succeeded in helping create the Canadian Confederation in 1867, but was thought to have been assassinated by Patrick J. Whelan in 1868.
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Jennifer Grout
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Jennifer Grout is an American singer of Arabic and Amazigh (Tashelhit) music.
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Jonathan Goldstein
- Occupations
- novelistradio personalityscreenwriter
- Biography
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Jonathan Goldstein is an American-Canadian author, humorist and radio producer. Goldstein has worked on radio programs and podcasts such as Heavyweight, This American Life, and WireTap. Goldstein's work has been academically examined as representative of "the positioning of Jews and Canadians as potentially overlooked minorities in the late-twentieth- and early twenty-first-century United States".
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John R. Saul
- Enrolled in McGill University
- Studied in 1966
- Occupations
- opinion journalistcolumnistwriterphilosopherinvestment banker
- Biography
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John Ralston Saul is a Canadian writer, political philosopher, and public intellectual. Saul is most widely known for his writings on the nature of individualism, citizenship and the public good; the failures of manager-led societies; the confusion between leadership and managerialism; military strategy, in particular irregular warfare; the role of freedom of speech and culture; and critiques of the prevailing economic paradigm. He is a champion of freedom of expression and was the International President of PEN International, an association of writers. Saul is the co-founder and co-chair of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, a national charity promoting the inclusion of new citizens. He is also the co-Founder and co-Chair of 6 Degrees, the global forum for inclusion. Saul is also the husband to the former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, making him the Viceregal consort of Canada during most of her service (1999-2005).
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Brenda Milner
- Enrolled in McGill University
- In 1952 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- neuroscientistpsychologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Brenda Milner is a British-Canadian neuropsychologist who has contributed extensively to the research literature on various topics in the field of clinical neuropsychology. As of 2010, Milner is a professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University and a professor of Psychology at the Montreal Neurological Institute. As of 2005, she holds more than 20 degrees and continues to work in her nineties. Her current work covers many aspects of neuropsychology including her lifelong interest in the involvement of the temporal lobes in episodic memory. She is sometimes referred to as "the founder of neuropsychology" and has proven to be an essential key in its development. She received the Balzan Prize for Cognitive Neuroscience, in 2009, and the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, together with John O'Keefe, and Marcus E. Raichle, in 2014. She turned 100 in July 2018 and at the time was still overseeing the work of researchers.
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Paul Bloom
- Occupations
- psychologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Paul Bloom is a Canadian American psychologist. He is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on language, morality, religion, fiction, and art.
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Mariloup Wolfe
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Mariloup Wolfe is a Canadian actress and film director. She went to F.A.C.E. School, an art school in Montreal. She holds a major in Film Production from Concordia University (2001) and a minor in Cultural Studies from McGill University (1999). Mariloup Wolfe became famous through her role as Marianne in the popular TV series Ramdam broadcast since 2001 on Télé-Québec.
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Mike Ward
- Occupations
- humoristtelevision actor
- Biography
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Michael John Ward is a Canadian comedian. He performs comedy in both French and English.
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Bryan Murray
- Occupations
- ice hockey coachgeneral manager
- Biography
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Bryan Clarence Murray was a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and coach. He served as general manager of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 2007 to 2016. He had previously been general manager of the NHL's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Florida Panthers, and Detroit Red Wings. He was also the head coach for the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and Ottawa Senators, for a total of 17 full or partial seasons.
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Bernard Nathanson
- Occupations
- physicianwritergynaecologist
- Biography
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Bernard N. Nathanson was an American medical doctor and co-founder in 1969 of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws — NARAL — later renamed National Abortion Rights Action League. He was also the former director of New York City's Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health, but later became an anti-abortion activist. He was the narrator for the controversial 1984 anti-abortion film The Silent Scream.
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Louis Nirenberg
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Louis Nirenberg was a Canadian-American mathematician, considered one of the most outstanding mathematicians of the 20th century.
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Willard Boyle
- Occupations
- physicistinventorphotographer
- Biography
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Willard Sterling Boyle, was a Canadian physicist. He was a pioneer in the field of laser technology and co-inventor of the charge-coupled device. As director of Space Science and Exploratory Studies at Bellcomm he helped select lunar landing sites and provided support for the Apollo space program.
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Ahmed Nazif
- Occupations
- politiciancomputer scientist
- Biography
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Ahmed Nazif served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 14 July 2004 to 29 January 2011, when his cabinet was dismissed by President Hosni Mubarak in light of a popular uprising that led to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Nazif was Acting President of Egypt from 5 March to 15 April 2010, when President Mubarak delegated his authorities to Nazif while undergoing surgery in Germany.
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John Rogers
- Enrolled in McGill University
- 1984-1990 studied physics
- Occupations
- film producerscreenwritercomics writer
- Biography
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John Rogers is an American screenwriter. He is known as the creator of the television series Jackie Chan Adventures, Leverage (2008–2012), The Librarians (2014–2018), and The Player (2015).
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Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll
- Years
- 1937-2001 (aged 64)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ian Campbell, 12th and 5th Duke of Argyll, KStJ, DL, FRSA, styled Marquess of Lorne between 1949 and 1973, was a Scottish Peer and Chief of Clan Campbell. He was also the 5th Duke of Argyll in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and Lord Lieutenant of Argyll and Bute.
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Martine Ouellet
- Enrolled in McGill University
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering
- Occupations
- engineerpolitician
- Biography
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Martine Ouellet is a Canadian engineer and politician who served as leader of the Bloc Québécois from 2017 to 2018. She is also the former Minister of Natural Resources of Quebec from 2012 to 2014.
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Sebastián Silva
- Occupations
- screenwritermusiciansingerfilm director
- Biography
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Sebastián Silva Irarrázabal is a Chilean director, actor, screenwriter, painter and musician.