#1Famous people · Grimsby, Ontario
Of the 19 famous people born in Grimsby, an unusual share are athletes
At the top of the list is the Olympic wrestler Tonya Verbeek, covered in 23 languages. The next two names are Josh Wagenaar and Kevin Bieksa. 8 of them were born since 1970, more than in any other period. Del Lord, born in 1894, is the earliest name and Christina Putigna, born in 1997, the latest.
Born here
19
confirmed by Wikipedia
Best known
Tonya Verbeek
23 Wikipedia and sister-site articles
First
1894
Del Lord
Youngest
1997
Christina Putigna
Most common field
Sports
11 people
What stands out about Grimsby’s famous people
★ What stands out · Through the years
When Grimsby’s famous people were born
More of them were born in the 1980s than in any other ten years, 4 in all.
SportsMusicWriting & ArtsFilm, TV & StagePolitics & LawScience & Medicine
Every person is a dot in the column of the decade they were born.
Known for
What Grimsby is known for
Musicians stand out most, at 2.8 times the usual share.
The usual town is the share across everyone listed in Canadian towns. Tap a field to see its people.
The best known
Born in Grimsby
Tonya Verbeek, Josh Wagenaar and Kevin Bieksa are written about in 23, 14 and 13 languages.
#1JW#2
#3Sports
Kevin Bieksa
born 1981Canadian ice hockey player
13 Wikipedia and sister-site articlesWikipedia ↗
Everyone
Everyone else born in Grimsby
Another 16, the earliest born in 1894.
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Close by, the fullest list is Beamsville’s, at 15 names.
Questions about famous people from Grimsby
Who is the most famous person from Grimsby?
Tonya Verbeek (olympic wrestler) comes first, by the number of Wikipedia languages that cover them. Next come Josh Wagenaar and Kevin Bieksa.
How many famous people were born in Grimsby?
Wikidata places 27 here in all; the others lack an article that agrees.
What is Grimsby known for?
That is 58% of the town’s list, against 38% across Canadian towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Grimsby?
Del Lord, from 1894; the most recent birth on the list is from 1997.
Who counts as from Grimsby?
A birth counts when Wikidata puts it inside Grimsby’s municipal boundary (Statistics Canada’s 2021 census subdivision), a hospital or district there included, and the person’s English or French Wikipedia article agrees. Those who only moved here are not on the list, and neither are adult performers or people famous mainly for crimes.
Why is someone missing?
The likeliest reasons: a birthplace recorded only as a province or as Canada, a hamlet or rural area with no page of its own, or an article that gives another place or none. Fixing Wikidata or Wikipedia brings them onto the list at the next refresh, as long as the two then agree.
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 (10)
- Tonya Verbeek: Madchester at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Kevin Bieksa: CANUCKS HOCKEY BLOG, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Del Lord: Introuvable, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Kevin Hearn: TheHYPO, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Marvin Wentworth: Detroit Free Press, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- George Pettit: Skate3214, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Christina Putigna: Puffycoombes, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Nina Arsenault: Nancy Paiva from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- E. D. Smith: The Perrault Printing Co., Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Gordon Shrum: Simon Fraser University - Communications & Marketing, CC BY 2.0, 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).