#1Famous people · Oshawa, Ontario
151 famous people were born in Oshawa, more of them musicians than in most towns
Articles in 39 languages make the Canadian actress A. J. Cook the best known. Shalom Harlow is second and Perdita Felicien third. The largest group, 61, was born since 1970. From Abram Farewell in 1812 to Elijah Fisher in 2004, the births cover 192 years.
Born here
151
confirmed by Wikipedia
Best known
A. J. Cook
39 Wikipedia and sister-site articles
First
1812
Abram Farewell
Youngest
2004
Elijah Fisher
Most common field
Sports
84 people
What stands out about Oshawa’s famous people
★ What stands out · Through the years
When Oshawa’s famous people were born
More were born in the 1960s than in any other decade: 27.
SportsPolitics & LawMusicWriting & ArtsFilm, TV & StageNotableScience & MedicineFaithBusiness
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Known for
What Oshawa is known for
Compared with the usual town, musicians are the most over-represented field, at 1.5 times.
The usual town is the share across everyone listed in Canadian towns. Tap a field to see its people.
The best known
Born in Oshawa
J. Cook, 28 for Shalom Harlow, 23 for Perdita Felicien.
#1
#2Film, TV & Stage
Shalom Harlow
born 1973Canadian model and actress
28 Wikipedia and sister-site articlesWikipedia ↗
#3Everyone
Everyone else born in Oshawa
The other 148 span the years 1812 to 2004.
Colin Russell
born 1984Canadian swimmer, Olympic athlete, world championships silver medallist, former world record-holder
SportsWikipedia ↗
Aaron Badgley
born 1964Canadian music journalist, music critic, radio host, and author
MusicWikipedia ↗
John Henry
born 1960Durham Regional Chair, Former Mayor of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Politics & LawWikipedia ↗
Paul Romanuk
born 1961Sports journalist and play-by-play announcer on The Sports Network.
Writing & ArtsWikipedia ↗
Sinéad Russell
born 1993Canadian swimmer, Olympic athlete, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist
SportsWikipedia ↗
Ray Reeson
born 1945SportsWikipedia (French) ↗
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
The longest list nearby is Whitby’s, with 51.
Questions about famous people from Oshawa
Who is the most famous person from Oshawa?
A. J. Cook (Canadian actress) heads the list, ranked by how many Wikipedias cover them. Next come Shalom Harlow and Perdita Felicien.
How many famous people were born in Oshawa?
Wikidata counts 200 born here, but only those an article confirms are listed.
What is Oshawa known for?
That is 56% of the town’s list, against 38% across Canadian towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Oshawa?
The earliest is Abram Farewell, born in 1812, and the latest birth listed is 2004.
Who counts as from Oshawa?
The list takes people born within Oshawa’s municipal boundary (Statistics Canada’s 2021 census subdivision), its hospitals and districts too, as Wikidata records it and an English or French Wikipedia article confirms. It leaves out residents born elsewhere, adult performers and people chiefly known for crimes.
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 (50)
- A. J. Cook: Nigel Horsley, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Shalom Harlow: David Shankbone, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Perdita Felicien: Perdita_Felicien_TK.jpg : Damien D. derivative work: Tabercil, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Joe Nieuwendyk: Resolute, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Allysha Chapman: Agência Brasília, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Lennon Stella: Justin Higuchi from Los Angeles, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Justin Danforth: Jenn G from Seattle, WA, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Ed Broadbent: Matt Jiggins, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Bill Siksay: Montrealais 21:51, 12 September 2006 (UTC), CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons
- James Edward Quigley: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Ryan Hamilton: TheAHL, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Shawn Thornton: Dan4th Nicholas from Cambridge, MA, USA, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Stephen Poloz: Bank of Canada - Banque du Canada from Canada, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jay Harrison: Benjamin Reed, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- John MacLean: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Matthew Hughes: U.S. Army, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Scott Barney: Tuomas Vitikainen, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Blaine Down: Berend Stettler, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Christine Elliott: Jwiki2014, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jeff Daniels: TheAHL, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jerry Edmonton: ABC / Dunhill Records, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Phil Groeneveld: Jice38, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Sandy Hawley: Robert T Bell, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Alexander Henderson: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Dalton Smith: Jessica, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Patrick Burns: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Andrew Engelage: DMighton, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Chris Glover: Legislative Assembly of Ontario, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- J. J. Barrie: Birchflow, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Luke Pither: Benjamin Reed, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Stefan Charles: Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- William Waugh Lauder: Eureka College. Alumni association, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Abram Farewell: Notman & Fraser, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Andy Stewart: clare_and_ben, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jeff Teravainen: Super Festivals, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Neil Pasricha: Ken West, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Randy Boyagoda: Biqbal, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Aaron Badgley: Linda Badgley, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Cam Westhead: Connor Mah, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Elijah Fisher: 2C2K Photography, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jerry Ouellette: Robert T Bell, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- John Henry: Robert T Bell from Oshawa, Canada, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Justin Vienneau: Rapaces de Gap, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Lucy Thurman: No photographer named in original source., Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Richard Greenop: Bridget Samuels from College Park, MD, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Saroya Tinker: GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Father Henry Carr: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Stan Cockerton: Brett Friedlander, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Stanley Lovell: Personally sourced photographer by Stanley Lovell ca. 1997., CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Pierce Lepage: filip bossuyt, CC BY 2.5, 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).