Portal:Canada/Selected biography
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[edit] Selected biographies list
[edit] Biographies 1–20
Portal:Canada/Selected biography/1
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, OC (born 26 January 1961 in Brantford, Ontario) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently part-owner and head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes.
Nicknamed "The Great One," Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the NHL calls Gretzky "the greatest player of all time."[1] He is generally regarded as the best player of his era and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,[2][3][4] players,[5] and coaches. He set 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, 6 All-Star records, won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, and won 9 MVP awards and 10 scoring titles. He is the only player ever to total over 200 points in a season (a feat that he accomplished four times in his career). In addition, he tallied over 100 points a season for 15 NHL seasons, 13 of them consecutively. He is the only player to have his number, 99, officially retired by the National Hockey League.
He retired from playing in 1999, becoming Executive Director for the Canadian national men's hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics. He also became part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2000 and following the 2004-05 NHL lockout became their head coach.
[edit] References
- ^ NHL.com, Wayne Gretzky: Greatness Ascendant, accessed January 24, 2007
- ^ Steve Dryden, The Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time, 1998
- ^ Mike Lupica, Gretzky faces Great gamble, February 10, 2006
- ^ Jim Huber, The Greatest?, April 17, 1999
- ^ Tom Maloney, Gretzky's Awkward Arrival, Time Magazine, February 15 2006
Portal:Canada/Selected biography/2 Céline Marie Claudette Dion Angélil, OC, OQ, (born March 30, 1968) is a Canadian pop singer and occasional songwriter.[1] Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion became a young star in Francophone Canada after her manager and future husband, René Angélil, mortgaged his home to finance her first record. She later gained recognition in parts of Europe and Asia after she won both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.
In 1990, Dion made her English language debut with the Anglophone album Unison, published by Epic Records. During the 1990s, under the guidance of her husband, she achieved worldwide fame and success with several English and French records, and ended the decade as one of the most successful artists in pop music. After releasing over twenty-five albums during the 1980s and 1990s, Dion announced in 1999 that she was taking a break from entertainment in order to start a family and to focus on her husband/manager, who had been diagnosed with throat cancer. She returned to the music scene in 2002 with a more mature, exclusively adult contemporary, sound, but her album sales suffered a decline, and she signed a lucrative four-year contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.
Dion's music has been influenced by various genres, which range from pop and rock to gospel and classical, and while her releases have often been given mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her technically skilled and powerful vocals.[2][3] In 2004, after accumulating record sales in excess of 175 million, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award from the World Music Awards show for becoming the Best-selling Female Pop Artist in the World.[4][5]
[edit] References
- ^ NHL.com, Wayne Gretzky: Greatness Ascendant, accessed January 24, 2007
- ^ Steve Dryden, The Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time, 1998
- ^ Mike Lupica, Gretzky faces Great gamble, February 10, 2006
- ^ Jim Huber, The Greatest?, April 17, 1999
- ^ Tom Maloney, Gretzky's Awkward Arrival, Time Magazine, February 15 2006
Portal:Canada/Selected biography/3
Louis Riel (October 22, 1844 – November 16, 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government that sought to preserve Métis rights and culture as their homelands in the Northwest came progressively under the Canadian sphere of influence.
The first such resistance was the Red River Rebellion of 1869–1870. The provisional government established by Riel ultimately negotiated the terms under which the modern province of Manitoba entered the Canadian Confederation. Riel was forced into exile in the United States as a result of the controversial execution of Thomas Scott during the rebellion. Despite this, he is frequently referred to as the "Father of Manitoba." While a fugitive, he was elected three times to the Canadian House of Commons, although he never assumed his seat. During these years, he was frustrated by having to remain in exile despite his growing belief that he was a divinely chosen leader and prophet, a belief which would later resurface and influence his actions. He married in 1881 while in exile in Montana, and fathered three children. He became a naturalized American citizen and was actively involved in the Republican party.
Riel returned to what is now the province of Saskatchewan to represent Métis grievances to the Canadian government. This resistance escalated into a military confrontation known as the North-West Rebellion of 1885. It ended in his arrest, trial, and eventual execution on a charge of high treason. Riel was viewed sympathetically in francophone regions of Canada, and his execution had a lasting influence on relations between the province of Quebec and English-speaking Canada. Whether seen as a Father of Confederation or a traitor, he remains one of the most complex, controversial, and ultimately tragic figures in the history of Canada.
Portal:Canada/Selected biography/4
Martin Pierre Brodeur (IPA: [mɑʁˈtẽ bʁoˈdœʁ]) (born May 6, 1972, in Montreal, Quebec) is a professional ice hockey goaltender who has played his entire National Hockey League career with the New Jersey Devils. In his 13-year tenure, he has led the team to three Stanley Cup championships and has taken them to the playoffs all but once. In addition to holding over thirty Devils franchise records, he is on pace to surpass Patrick Roy's career records for wins,[6] games played and minutes played, as well as Terry Sawchuk's record for career shutouts,[7]
and Patrick Roy's record for career playoff shutouts.
Brodeur has been among the NHL's most consistent goaltenders over the past decade, winning at least 35 games each of the last ten seasons as well as being the only goalie in NHL history with six 40-win seasons. He is a three-time Vezina Trophy winner, a four-time Jennings Trophy winner, a nine-time NHL All Star, and one of only two NHL goaltenders to have scored goals in the regular season and the playoffs. In the 2006-07 NHL season, Brodeur surpassed Sawchuk and still-active Ed Belfour on the all-time wins list and Glenn Hall on the all-time shutouts list to rank 2nd and 3rd in those categories, respectively. He also passed Bernie Parent's record of 47 single-season wins with his 48th win on April 5, 2007.
Brodeur is considered a hybrid style goalie, which differs from the typical butterfly style of his native Quebec. He is best known for his great reflexes, especially with his glove hand, his puck handling, and his strong positional play
[edit] References
- ^ NHL.com, Wayne Gretzky: Greatness Ascendant, accessed January 24, 2007
- ^ Steve Dryden, The Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time, 1998
- ^ Mike Lupica, Gretzky faces Great gamble, February 10, 2006
- ^ Jim Huber, The Greatest?, April 17, 1999
- ^ Tom Maloney, Gretzky's Awkward Arrival, Time Magazine, February 15 2006
Portal:Canada/Selected biography/5 Peter Charles Jennings, CM (July 29, 1938 – August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-born, American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer. A high-school dropout, he transformed himself into one of America's most prominent journalists.
Jennings started his career early, hosting a Canadian radio show at the age of nine. In 1965, ABC News tapped him to anchor its flagship evening news program. His inexperience marred his first short stint in the anchor chair, and Jennings became a foreign correspondent in 1968, honing his reporting skills in the Middle East.
He returned as one of World News Tonight's three anchors in 1978, and was promoted to the role of sole anchor in 1983. Jennings formed part of the "Big Three" news anchors who dominated American evening news in the 1980s and 1990s. Having always been fascinated with the United States, Jennings became a dual citizen of Canada and the United States in 2003. His death, which closely followed the retirements of Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, marked the end of the "Big Three" era.
Portal:Canada/Selected biography/6
Leslie William Nielsen OC (born February 11, 1926) is a Canadian-American comedian and actor. Although Nielsen’s acting career crossed a variety of genres in both television and movies, he achieved his greatest film success in comedies, including Airplane! and The Naked Gun series of films. His portrayal of serious characters seemingly oblivious of (and complicit in) their absurd surroundings gave Nielsen a reputation as a comedian.[8] A series of later comedies attempted to emulate the popularity of his prior roles.
This paralleled the serious roles of his early career. Leading roles in the science fiction classic Forbidden Planet and as the ship's captain in The Poseidon Adventure came long before Nielsen considered a turn to comedy. His deadpan delivery as a doctor in 1980’s Airplane! marked a turning point in Nielsen’s career, one that would make him, in the words of movie critic Roger Ebert, "the Olivier of spoofs."[9]
[edit] References
- ^ NHL.com, Wayne Gretzky: Greatness Ascendant, accessed January 24, 2007
- ^ Steve Dryden, The Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time, 1998
- ^ Mike Lupica, Gretzky faces Great gamble, February 10, 2006
- ^ Jim Huber, The Greatest?, April 17, 1999
- ^ Tom Maloney, Gretzky's Awkward Arrival, Time Magazine, February 15 2006
Portal:Canada/Selected biography/7
Her Excellency the Rt. Hon. Michaëlle Jean, CC, CMM, COM, CD, DUniv (honoris causa), DLitt (honoris causa), LLD (honoris causa) [mi.ka.ɛl ʒɑ̃], (born September 6, 1957, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is the current Governor General of Canada. Jean was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Paul Martin, to succeed Adrienne Clarkson and become the 27th governor general of Canada since Confederation in 1867. Prior to this, Jean was a journalist and broadcaster on Radio-Canada and the CBC. She is the first person of Afro-Caribbean heritage to serve as Governor General, the third woman, and the second immigrant.
As the current Governor General of Canada, she is entitled to be styled Her Excellency while in office, and The Right Honourable for life; she will be sworn to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada after her term as the Queen's representative has ended.
An official announcement about the appointment was made on August 4, 2005. Her investiture took place on September 27.
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[edit] Biographies 21–40
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[edit] Nominations
Feel free to add top or high importance biographies to the above list. Other Canada-related biographies may be nominated here.
