#1Famous people · Barrie, Ontario
99 famous people from Barrie, many of them athletes
Most widely known is Sarah Burke, the Canadian freeskier, with articles in 23 languages. Behind the leader come Brent Burns and Hugh Plaxton. 34 of them were born since 1970, more than in any other period. The oldest name on the list belongs to Charles Augustus Semlin, born in 1836, the newest to Gunnar Holmgren, born in 1999.
Born here
99
confirmed by Wikipedia
Best known
Sarah Burke
23 Wikipedia and sister-site articles
First
1836
Charles Augustus Semlin
Youngest
1999
Gunnar Holmgren
Most common field
Sports
59 people
What stands out about Barrie’s famous people
★ What stands out · Through the years
When Barrie’s famous people were born
The 1990s saw the most births of any decade: 15.
SportsPolitics & LawWriting & ArtsFilm, TV & StageMusicScience & MedicineNotable
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Known for
What Barrie is known for
No other field is as far above the usual share as athletes, at 1.6 times.
Each field is set against the usual town, its share among everyone listed in Canadian towns. Tap one to see who is in it.
The best known
Born in Barrie
#1
#2Sports
Brent Burns
born 1985Canadian ice hockey player
18 Wikipedia and sister-site articlesWikipedia ↗
HP#3
Sports
Hugh Plaxton
1904–1982Canadian ice hockey player
14 Wikipedia and sister-site articlesWikipedia ↗
Everyone
Everyone else born in Barrie
The other 96 span the years 1836 to 1999.
Samantha Win
born 1991Canadian Actress and Martial Artist, formerly Samantha Jo
Film, TV & StageWikipedia ↗
Gunnar Holmgren
born 1999Canadian cross-country mountain biker and cyclo-cross cyclist
SportsWikipedia ↗
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Count of the towns around it with a famous name listed: 3.
Questions about famous people from Barrie
Who is the most famous person from Barrie?
The top name is Sarah Burke (Canadian freeskier), going by Wikipedia coverage. Next come Brent Burns and Hugh Plaxton.
How many famous people were born in Barrie?
Wikidata has 125 born here; the ones not shown have no article that agrees, or none at all.
What is Barrie known for?
60% here, set against 38% for Canadian towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Barrie?
The earliest is Charles Augustus Semlin, born in 1836, and the latest birth listed is 1999.
Who counts as from Barrie?
What counts is a birth that Wikidata places inside Barrie’s municipal boundary (Statistics Canada’s 2021 census subdivision), its hospitals and districts too, and that the person’s English or French Wikipedia article repeats. Adult performers, people known chiefly for crimes and those who only lived here are not on the list.
Why is someone missing?
Some have no birthplace below the province on Wikidata, some were born in a hamlet without a page here, and some have an article that names another place or none at all. The page lists only what Wikidata and Wikipedia agree on, and it follows their corrections at each refresh.
Birthplaces, descriptions, years, occupations and the count of Wikipedia and sister-site articles come from Wikidata (CC0). Each birthplace is checked against the person’s English Wikipedia article, or the French one where English says nothing or has no article; the articles are linked, never quoted. Wikidata’s Statistics Canada code, the place’s name or its point inside the 2021 census outline puts a birth in a town, and a birth given only as a split city stays on that city’s page. Fields are read from the description and occupations, and the list runs by number of articles. “The usual town” is everyone listed across Canadian towns. Portraits: each person’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (36)
- Sarah Burke: Patrick Hui from Whistler, BC, Canada., CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Brent Burns: mark6mauno, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jessica Harmon: M.P Photo, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- John Madden: Saruwine, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Michael Hutchinson: Sarah Connors, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Stockwell Day: US Mission Canada, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Cendrine Browne: Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Lex Albrecht: Hoebele, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Adam Jamieson: Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Mitchell Islam: David W. Carmichael, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Darren Rumble: TheAHL, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Gunnar Holmgren: Stephen LaBonte, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Veronika Slowikowska: Canadian Film Centre from Toronto, Canada, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Steven Furlano: Robin Glover, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- William Humphrey Bennett: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Hap Emms: C56quad, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Percy Vivian: Arthur Roy, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Scott Hotham: Alex Micheu Photography from VILLACH, Austria, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Ivano Pizzi: TVSEI, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jason McCoy: Gary J. Wood, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Phyllis Marshall: not given, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Steve Vair: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Wallace Warren Cross: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Wayne Rutledge: Houston Aeros, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- William Alves Boys: House of Commons, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Dan Farrell: Unidentified (Ensian published by University of Michigan), Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Gordon Meeking: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Grindy Forrester: A.W. Buck Studio, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Hyliard Chappell: Law Society of Upper Canada Archives from Canada, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Jake Julien: Cmm3, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jessie Eldridge: Jenn G from Seattle, WA, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Mark Dilley: Oaktree b, CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons
- Daniel Vandervoort: Cmm3, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Del Irvine: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Frank Foyston: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Edwin Holgate: en:M.O. Hammond, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).