434 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Steve Nash, Margaret Atwood and David Foster are from Victoria, and Steve Bachman (The Guess Who) lives on Salt Spring.

Who else can we claim for fame? These individuals do not necessarily have to be pop culture icons, but internationally renowned in their respective fields, etc.

[collywobbles]

That would be Randy Bachmann. How about Nelly Furtado? Emily Carr? Andrew Weaver?

[Ginger Snap]

Pamela Anderson used to work for Tourism Victoria, before being discovered at a BC Lions football game.
Meg Tilly owns a house on Beach Drive
Colin Firth has kids who live here, and he lives here part time (apparently likes to frequent the Oak Bay Starbucks)

[aastra]

Didn't we already do the "from" part on another thread? Meg and Jennifer Tilly, Cliff Thorburn... I think we were talking about a Vancouver Island walk of fame or something like that.

[amor de cosmos]

Gwyn Morgan - former CEO of Encana
Ralph Bodine - former chairman of Sunkist
Werner Israel - physicist (co-edited books with Stephen Hawking, etc)
Don Mattrick - former CEO of EA
Hari Srivastava - mathematician

[Ms. B. Havin]

Margaret Atwood? From Victoria?? When did this happen?

Are you sure you're not thinking of Jim Munro's ex-wife, Alice Munro? (Who probably wasn't from here, but just lived here for a while, probably toiling at Munro's Books...)

Who is Colin Firth?

[Ginger Snap]

Alice Munro
Robert Service
Atom Egoyan

Gordie Dodd

[G-Man]

Arthur Black lives on Salt Spring.

[Rob Randall]

Famous artists:
Nick Bantock

Jack Shadbolt

E. J. Hughes lived in Duncan

[yodsaker]

Meg Tilly sold the Beach Drive house a while back. Perhaps not as well-known locally as B-list Meg, her husband is John Calley a true Hollywood heavy hitter. Calley was once head of Sony Columbia studios and producer of The DaVinci Code among other major movies.

Don Mattrick is married to Nanon deGaspe Beaubien whose father Phillippe was "mayor" of Montreal's Expo 67 (kind of CEO). Nanon and her two siblings ran Telemedia the family empire which included Telemedia's magazine assets, including Canadian Living, Harrowsmith, Homemaker's and the Canadian editions of TV Guide and ELLE plus 79 radio stations and 20-plus TV stations across Canada. The family sold their media holdings in the late '90s and early '00s.
But Mattrick and deGaspe Beaubien are not true Victorians, their primary residence is in West Van. They paid $10 million for 'Eagle's Nest' on Beach Drive to enjoy weekends over here.

In addition to Randy Bachman, Robert Bateman lives on Saltspring which I guess we can count it as its now a suburb of Victoria.

[Sue Woods]

We will soon be able to add (Tenor) Ken Levinge who is from Victoria but now lives in Duncan. This week he signed a deal with NY's Carnegie Hall for a spring of 09 concert - his first foray onto the international scene.

[Ginger Snap]

Margaret Atwood? From Victoria?? When did this happen?

Are you sure you're not thinking of Jim Munro's ex-wife, Alice Munro? (Who probably wasn't from here, but just lived here for a while, probably toiling at Munro's Books...)

Who is Colin Firth?

Colin Firth is the handsome Brit that starred in movies such as Pride and Prejudice (not the BBC version), Bridget Jones Diary, and Mama Mia.

[amor de cosmos]

Carol Sheilds (retired here)
Hot Hot Heat
Paul & Gary Gait
No Means No
Dayglo Abortions
David Black (Don Mattrick's next-door neighbour )

[victorian fan]

Richard Margison, operatic tenor.

[groundlevel]

Steve Nash
Pierre Burton (raised here)

[yodsaker]

From the political realm, ex-Trudeau era minister Judd Buchanan lives at Ten Mile Point and the late Tommy Shoyama, who was one of the principal architects of Medicare in Saskatchewan under Tommy Douglas, lived in Uplands.

Shoyama moved to Ottawa with Douglas when the latter won the leadership of the New Democratic Party then was later enticed into the federal public service by Pierre Trudeau where he eventually became deputy minister of finance. He also headed Atomic Energy of Canada and worked on the federal Canada Health Act and its provisions for Medicare.

And I thought I saw/read/heard that former Ontario premier Mike 'Chainsaw' Harris and the Codfather Brian Tobin had bought condos in town. Can anbody confirm this?

Ex-Nfld. Premier Brian Peckford lives quietly at Qualicum Beach.

Talk-show host Vicki Gabereau went to OB High, as did Pierre Berton.

And let's not forget the great Simon Whitfield!

[LJ]

Are we trying to validate ourselves because some "famous" people live here?

Who really cares?

Greater Victoria is a fantastic place to live on its own merits, I don't care who chooses to live here or not. That is not what makes a city great.

[Ginger Snap]

Nobody said anything about validating, it's just a fun thread.

[yodsaker]

Are we trying to validate ourselves because some "famous" people live here?

Who really cares?

Greater Victoria is a fantastic place to live on its own merits, I don't care who chooses to live here or not. That is not what makes a city great.

Methinks he doth extrapolate too much.

[Sue Woods]

John Travolta has a huge beachfront estate a mile from Vic airport (private jet owner that he is) near Deep Cove.

The (snap, crackle, pop) Kellogg family has a summer place on Salt Spring which you can see from Deep Cove.

Phil Collins lives p/t on Saltspring.

Think its also interesting that we have 13 retired navy admirals living in Victoria/Oak Bay.