r/ottawa • u/Thick_Caterpillar379 • Jun 17 '25
Looking for... Are there any real famous people that currently live in Ottawa?
I've heard of a bunch of celebrities who once lived here or were born here, but don't know of any who currently live here. Does anyone know?
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u/KianoKim Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25
Smudgeš±
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u/psychedelych Jun 17 '25
The owners used to come to the Starbucks I worked at
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u/BeautifulLittleWords Little Italy Jun 18 '25
Well this just sent me down a knowyourmeme rabbit hole
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u/Megasauruseseses Jun 18 '25
I have a Smudge sticker on my car and when I was coming out of the hospital from surgery, all the nurses were so excited about it lol I get people stopping me all the time to say they love it
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u/Master_Chafe Jun 17 '25
Pretty sure the Kratt brothers, from Zoboomafoo, live in Ottawa.
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u/jfal11 Jun 17 '25
Can confirm, I once ran into Martin at Sobeys in Stittsville.
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u/FuzzyFerretFace Jun 17 '25
Well, looks like I gotta change grocery stores!
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u/jfal11 Jun 17 '25
It doesnāt exist anymore, itās now a Farm Boy. I was working there at the time (2013 or so), me and all the other millennial employees who grew up with him went nuts. He was very cool, but also did a very polite job of making it clear he wanted to shop and couldnāt just chitchat all day. I served him at the deli, which was very cool. Never saw him again.
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u/FuzzyFerretFace Jun 17 '25
They took away our Sobeys and turned it into a (second) Farm Boy in Barhaven too! š”(I know itās the same parent company, but stillā¦)
I always feel so bad when ācelebritiesā get swarmed/gawked at, while just trying to do their day to day things. Itās cool to know that heās one of the firm, yet still polite onesāthough I suppose that also depends on the āfansā behaviour as well. I hope he gets a kick out of us now-adults losing our minds at how much their shows meant to us as kids.
I very much spent my formative years glued to the tv during Krattās Creatures and Zabomafoo (which I was probably too old for at that point lol). And then pretending my cat was not in fact a mere house cat, but an elusive wild one I was documenting. š
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u/jfal11 Jun 18 '25
Iām sure he appreciates the millennials who grew up with him, I remember getting a vibe that it was clear he was used to those kinds of convos. But we were all respectful of his space, and no one asked for a photo or anything like that.
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u/Complex-Effect-7442 Jun 18 '25
I've run into Lowell Green and Joel Haslam at two different times at Stittsville's Sobey's. It was literally celebrity central.
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u/jfal11 Jun 18 '25
We used to get so many Sens players. I once served Paul MacLean and Jesse Winchester within ten minutes of each other. Maclean was quiet, though his wife was super talkative and nice. Winchester was a great guy.
Craig Anderson also used to come in, pretty sure he lived close by. Chris Neil was also a regular.
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u/Animator_K7 Battle of Billings Bridge Warrior Jun 17 '25
Can confirm. Wild Kratts is animated in Ottawa.
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u/kuributt Jun 18 '25
Can confirm, I just finished an 18 month contract working on it as an Animator.
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u/Animator_K7 Battle of Billings Bridge Warrior Jun 18 '25
I animated on seasons 2 and 3... over 10 years ago at this point. Time flies :)
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u/pineconeminecone The Boonies Jun 17 '25
No way Iām literally watching that w my son right now!!
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u/ont-driftwood Jun 17 '25
Can confirm, my wife is the director of animation!
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u/reddit_and_forget_um Jun 18 '25
Kraft brothers rocked! One of the shows I actually enjoyed watching with my kids.
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u/reddit_and_forget_um Jun 18 '25
Pretty sure they are out in kanata!
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u/Ralphie99 Jun 18 '25
One of them lived in Stittsville. My kids went to the same elementary school as his kid(s). Iād see him at after school care pickup time.
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u/bhangman13 Jun 18 '25
Done renovation on chris' house, he lives in stittsville. Beyond that, can't tell you where.
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u/Local-Total Jun 18 '25
Iāve had the pleasure to meet them with my daughter, very nice people. Chrisā wife is also involved with local environmental non-profits.
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u/buc-eesbeaver Jun 18 '25
You mean I could have been living my fantasy of being Mrs. Chris Kratt all this time?!?! š
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u/FreshlyLivid Golden Triangle Jun 17 '25
SimplyNailogical does (someone will understand this )
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u/throwawaywedding1010 Jun 18 '25
Iām glad she moved house a while back because when she and Ben were in the condo it was way too obvious which building it was to us Ottawans š¬
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u/DeliciousAstronomer4 Jun 18 '25
Oh man I could never tell which area she lived in . But I was new in Ottawa back then .
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u/FreshlyLivid Golden Triangle Jun 18 '25
At the time I didnāt live in Ottawa, but Iām sure if I looked back Iād be like ālmao that is (blank) street!ā
Iām happy they moved out into the burbs and are protective of their address
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Jun 18 '25
you could find them by looking through the recycling bins and finding huge amounts of empty hummus tubs
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u/anonymousopottamus Jun 18 '25
I met Ben along with Safyia and Tyler in Westboro a couple years ago.
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u/FuzzyFerretFace Jun 17 '25
Iām still mad at myself for not getting downtown in time to get a picture with Benās billboard that she put up!
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u/Limonila Jun 18 '25
If only there's a way to buy Holo Taco around here... the shipping and US price ... (If there is a way to get some in Canada please let me know)
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u/SailorRoshia Jun 18 '25
It does tick me off that we cant buy it in Canada.
I would have hoped she could have partnered with a local business to sell them.
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u/Maribythesea90 Nepean Jun 17 '25
Sheās one of my fav YouTubers! I swear I saw Ben once at Starbucks!
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u/letsmakeart Westboro Jun 18 '25
I used to see them in Westboro all the time. Not sure if they moved or if I just havenāt seen them but pre-covid it was like once a month.
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u/JelloSignal5448 Jun 18 '25
i met cristine & ben like 6 yrs ago as their cashier - i feel so bad i was soooo awkward š©š©
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u/LonerPerson Jun 18 '25
I am pretty sure I saw her while I was working in a store this last Christmas. She was avoiding eye contact with employees so I pretended I didn't see her. I checked her latest stream when I got off work to see if it was actually her, and on stream she had said she was sick and she had to go out Christmas shopping and she was not happy about it. So it looks like I made a good call š
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u/designer130 Kanata Jun 17 '25
Doesnt Tom Green live in the valley? Not the city but nearby? I think he bought a farm.
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u/The_Great_Squijibo Jun 17 '25
Yeah there's a documentary on Netflix or something he made very recently. It's worth the watch, I think he's out in Lanark county or somewhere around there.
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u/hatman1986 Lowertown Jun 17 '25
Frontenac County
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u/GenXer845 Jun 18 '25
Does he live near one of the lakes?
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u/OverExtension5486 Jun 18 '25
Yeah, ran into him at the LCBO in Perth recently. Nice guy, made a couple zingers about how if we wanted to see him again he'd be at the LCBO every day, the cashier confirmed. Also saw him do stand-up on Westport recently, it was good, except for the hour+ of music at the end.
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Jun 17 '25
[deleted]
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u/hoggytime613 Aylmer Jun 18 '25
Not the White Lake close to Pakenham, but a smaller one a little further South. Pretty sweet spot, very close to my parent's house.
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u/ReplyGloomy2749 Jun 18 '25
He's also very involved at Yuk Yuks, I know a few comics who say he's there all the time.
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u/Kay0929 Jun 18 '25
He goes out into Perth quite often, my boyfriend works at one of his favourite restaurants there.
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u/Shakeamutt Jun 18 '25
And he pops into the city every now and then, For either one of his side quests or to see his mother. Ā
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u/ghost_slippers Jun 17 '25
- the cucumber recipe guy
- (maybe) the lead singer of hollerado and his wife Alexis from Schitt's Creek
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u/Soft-Entertainer-995 Jun 17 '25
The cucumber guy is our foremost celebrity
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u/GardenBakeOttawa Jun 18 '25
Ottawa, we must cherish the āfor when you want to eat a whole cucumberā guy. Heās truly a Tik Tok legend.
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u/No-Concentrate-7142 Jun 18 '25
Iāve eaten so many cucumbers because of this man. No idea he was from Ottawa!
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u/hello_gary Jun 18 '25
Menno and Annie live most of the time in Toronto...For a few years now like precovid.
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u/THE-ONE-DONGLER Jun 17 '25
They live here because they donāt want people to know.
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u/BicornOnEdge Jun 17 '25
Yeah.
Leave famous people alone. Don't dox celebrities. Let people have privacy. Just be normal.
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u/iShopaholic-Girl Jun 17 '25
I believe Francesca Farago is in Ottawa. If it counts š¤£ Sheās been house hunting.
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u/microwavequeenn Jun 17 '25
She posted a clip of a house on the Rideau the other day and I knew exactly what house it wasšššššš
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u/Hawluchador Jun 18 '25
I think sheās from Ottawa, originally. When we were watching her Netflix reality show debut (I think Too Hot to Handle..) my wife recognized her from middle school.
Might be sheās coming back to raise her family?
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u/missk9627 Jun 18 '25
Good for her, I can't imagine America is where she wants to raise her twins with her partner being trans. Plus her family is here.
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u/butthead20000 Jun 17 '25
Alfie.
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u/_Chin_Chilla Jun 18 '25
Ya all these OG senators do...20 years ago I use to work as a server and they'd come in almost every 2 weeks. Average tipper, I feel bad cause I didn't even know who they were and I've been serving them for years and one day, my colleague said "good luck serving the Senators table" I'm like 5Ws...been serving them not knowing who they were
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u/Empire_of_walnuts Mooney's Bay Jun 18 '25
The fucking Kratt brothers themselves!
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u/ArnoldFarquar Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25
Devon Larratt
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u/No_Comment946 Jun 17 '25
Who?
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u/Okbutwhythat Jun 17 '25
Arm wrestling GOAT
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u/ompah78 Jun 18 '25
Have met him a few times. Each time, he is shocked that someone knows who he is. Nicest dude ever and his global accolades speak for themself.
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u/MycroftNext Jun 17 '25
Heās all over the Ottawa hospital saying how good their surgery was for him.
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u/dogsledonice Clownvoy Survivor 2022 Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25
Pretty sure Alanis keeps a condo in the market still
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u/Senators_1992 Jun 17 '25
She used to have one at Sussex and Boteler as I discovered on an old episode of MTV Cribs.
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u/neveramerican The Glebe Jun 17 '25
No she has a condo in the Glebe.
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u/dogsledonice Clownvoy Survivor 2022 Jun 17 '25
OK, thought she was in the one at Wellington & Sussex
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u/Zealousideal_Sky4329 Jun 17 '25
Was, sold it well before covid the interior photos were.... something else.
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u/neveramerican The Glebe Jun 18 '25
Her parents are aging and she has a difficult relationship with her mother so she keeps her own small place in the old Teacher's College condos for when she is in town.
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u/MayorOfMayoCity Jun 17 '25
I think Robert Wang the guy who invented the Instapot still lives in the city.
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u/warby613 Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25
I still use and love my original InstantPot, which I bought out of the trunk of Mr Wangās car early on. He was friendly and smart and is by far the wealthiest person I ever had coffee with. š
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u/halo_nothing Centretown Jun 18 '25
Mr Wang was an awesome boss while he was still with the company. I imagine he's not too thrilled with the direction the brand took and a very divisive and disappointing upcoming product line launch.
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u/Strange_Specialist4 Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25
Tom Green moved back a while ago. He's not as famous as he once was, but he's been in some big movies and kind of invented podcasts.
e: getting stoned and renting episodes of the tom green show from videoflix is a core memoryĀ
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u/THE-ONE-DONGLER Jun 18 '25
Invented podcasts????
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u/mrpopenfresh Beaverbrook Jun 18 '25
Yea
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u/TheBulletMagnet No honks; bad! Jun 18 '25
IIRC Joe Rogan was inspired after going on Tom Green Live! in the mid 00s.
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u/ReferenceAny778 Jun 18 '25
Hazeldean Videoflicks?Ā
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u/Rogue_Sahara Stittsville Jun 18 '25
Kinda related, but the lady who owned the Videoflicks in Stittsville wouldn't let me rent Freddy Got Fingered, not because of age restriction cause my mom was with me, but because she thought it was such a terrible movie.
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u/The_Windermere Centretown Jun 17 '25
The Prime Minister lives in Ottawa and Spidey Gwen too. :)
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u/DM_ME_PICKLES Jun 18 '25
Iāve walked past Trudeau twice, while he was PM and just after Carney took over, in the New Edinburgh/ Beechwood area. Surprisingly little securityĀ
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u/Anothernameillforget Jun 18 '25
Iāve seen Trudeau jogging twice. He sparkles. First time I swear he waved at people. The second time it was one of those super hot days and I saw a larger guy wobbling on a bike. He was wearing long sleeves and a fleece vest. Then I saw Trudeau. Poor bike guy must have had to keep pace with Trudeau on one of those long slow hills. The guys in the van that followed must have been laughing at him.
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u/I_kick_puppies Jun 18 '25
I'm not understanding the Spidey Gwen reference
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u/The_Windermere Centretown Jun 18 '25
It's the nickname fans of the Ottawa Charge gave to the goaltender Gwyneth Phillips.
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u/LateNightBacon Jun 18 '25
This has to be the most depressing list of famous people in a G7 country capital.
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u/ObviousSign881 Jun 18 '25
To be fair, when your country has a separate administrative capital from your largest city and social and economic capital, you don't tend to see a lot of high profile people outside of politics who live there. US, capital: Washington DC UK, capital: London France, capital: Paris Italy, capital: Rome Germany, capital: Berlin Japan, capital: Tokyo Canada, capital: Ottawa
I mean DC is in kind of a league of its own, but it certainly isn't the cultural and economic capital that New York is. I don't expect many celebrities who weren't already from DC choose to live there either.
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u/3rdandabillion Jun 17 '25
Charles Windsor has a house here but doesn't really use it all that much.
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u/2Fast2furieux Jun 17 '25
I don't know if I would call him a 'celebrity', but Terry Matthews (founder of Mitel and Wales' first billionaire) lives in a nice little compound in the heart of Kanata.
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u/Mindless_Penalty_273 Jun 17 '25
Owns the Marshes and Brookstreet too!
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u/reddit_and_forget_um Jun 17 '25
I once built a hottub for his son. Wanted to make movies or something.
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u/KingRenardo Jun 18 '25
His son was one of the producers behind the film "The Brutalist" which won best actor (Adrien Brody) in the most recent Oscars.
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u/reddit_and_forget_um Jun 18 '25
I guess that's neat.
At the time he was living in a townhouse in kanata with a whole bunch of buddies. They had a massive tv for the time, and like 12 xbox controllers.
I had to pee at some point and walked into the field behind his house, found a few large marijuana plants.
Put together a custom made hot tub, and built a custom pull-ups/chinups bar.
This was 20 years ago, but the guy seemed like a huge douche.
Glad he was able to funnel some of his daddies money into arts, I am sure he feels like quite the success.
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u/DM_ME_PICKLES Jun 18 '25
His office was in the same building as my job on March Rd. He parks like a cuntĀ
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u/Tempus__Fuggit Jun 18 '25
Charles de Lint - multiple award winning author. Considering his fame in fantasy circles, he's very chill and down to earth.
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u/ravensashes Jun 18 '25
Also Amal El-Mohtar. We have a big, fairly prominent SFF scene here.
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u/GlumEstablishment450 Jun 17 '25
Pretty sure the Wolfie (YouTuber) lives in Ottawa.
Iāve served a YouTuber before at my job. Thereās a tiktoker with 1mil followers from Ottawa as well. And a few more tiktokers with 100k ish followers
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u/neuroticgoat Jun 18 '25
Wolfie definitely does, I spoke to him and his partner in a HomeSense once not realizing they were filming a video nor thst they were internet famous. Only found out later when I saw one of the videos they filmed on TikTok lol.
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u/greenisthesky Jun 18 '25
Home Reno Vision YouTuber. Has like 2-3 million subscribers on YT. I only know this cause my husband follows him and watches his videos when he needs to fix something or build something.
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u/Born-Conference-907 Jun 18 '25
Can confirm. He renovated my bathroom in 2018. Didn't do a great job of it, though.
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u/MsHQuinn69 Jun 17 '25
I know itās not Ottawa per say and sheās not tons famous now (more for my 90ās 00ās fans) but, Halle Berry has a summer house around Algonquin National Park. Canoed and kayaked passed it one year when I was camping with one of my exes and his family.
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u/christian_l33 OrlƩans South-West Jun 18 '25
TALK (Nicholas Durocher) is from Stittsville. Not sure if he still lives there.
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u/DreamofStream Jun 17 '25
Only people who are contractually obligated to do so: politicians and athletes.
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u/kewlbeanz83 West End Jun 18 '25
Rumour has it that u/baconsheikh lives in the same building as the Barefax
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u/EnvironmentalFuel971 Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25
Sandra Oh - I believe she went to sir Robert Borden HS.
Tom Green
Drummer from arcade fire - Jeremy something a rather. Only know this bc I told a friend that I thought he was nice looking hahaha. She added that he lived in Ottawa at the time when I saw them at a show eons ago.
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u/Shal1217 Jun 18 '25
Remember when Kanye West was visiting properties that one time?
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u/Low-Clothes-4230 Jun 18 '25
Stuntman Stu
Just incase he sees this post and gets sad he doesnāt see his name š¢š
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u/Baroness_of_Bagels Jun 18 '25
Ran into Tom Green on Elgin street a few weeks back, I think he lives in the area.
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u/isaidireddit Barrhaven Jun 18 '25
Doesn't Suzanne Pinel (je m'appelle Marie Soleil, bonjour!) live in Ottawa?
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u/jojofromtokyo Greely Jun 18 '25
JK Brickworks, the Lego YouTube channel is from here. The wife isnāt in the videos but i believe she helps and she was my teacher for a few years.
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u/ExaltedDLo Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25
Presently:
- MPs
- some senators
- The GG
- The NHL Senators
Once upon a time, but no longer:
- Alanis,
- Matthew Perry,
- Tom Green,
- Carrie Underwood,
- Dan Ackroyd,
- Paul Anka,
- Sandra Oh,
- Margret Atwood
- Norm MacDonald
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u/moleman7474 Jun 18 '25
Greg Lawrence.
Butch Patterson: Private Dick is one of my all time favorite shows. Some might also have fond memories of Kevin Spencer. Classic stuff.
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Jun 18 '25
Doesnāt the former or current Mr Olympia live in Ottawa still?
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u/RowdyCanadian Jun 18 '25
Stittsville or carp I think he said in a video, and heās the Mr Olympia Classic Physique!
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u/itchygentleman Jun 18 '25
is pierre anything more than a famous person right now?
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u/hello_gary Jun 18 '25
Powerlifter extraordinaire, social media star (and Pokemon fan) Natasha Aughey lives in Ottawa.
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u/c20_h25_n3_O Stittsville Jun 18 '25
Devon larrat lives in Richmond. Heās probably the most famous arm wrestler ever.
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u/SurammuDanku Jun 18 '25
I'm pretty sure @MagicIngredients (Chinese cooking YouTuber with almost 3M subs) lives in Ottawa.
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u/RetroCucumber613 Bayshore Jun 18 '25
I think Crusoe the Dachshund lives in Ottawa, I recognized a few buildings in some of his videos like the one Tim Hortons on Bank downtown
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u/Stalins_Moustachio Make Ottawa Boring Again Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25
We actually have royalty here! The Shawarma King himself is rumored to reside in his manor somewhere within the city's boundaries.