Arts
Architecture and design
- James Balfour (1854–1917), architect; works include Canada Life Assurance Company building at corner of King & James (1883), City Hall on corner of James & York (1888) [1]
- Bruce Kuwabara (1949– ), architect; works include Kitchener City Hall and Art Gallery of Ontario Phase III [2]
- John M. Lyle (1872–1945), architect in the late 19th century; works include New York Public Library Main Branch (1897–1911), Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto (1907), Union Station (Toronto) (1914–1921) [3]
Craft
- Lois Betteridge (1928–2020), silversmith, goldsmith, designer and educator [4]
Dance
- Frank Augustyn (1953– ), principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada from 1972 to 1989 [5]
- Karen Kain (1951– ), principal dancer and later artistic director (2005–2021) of the National Ballet of Canada [6]
Film and television
- Jean Adair (1873–1953), actress; worked primarily on stage (sometimes billed as Jennet Adair); made several film appearances late in her career, most notably as one of the misguided murdering aunts of Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace
- Nicole Arbour, comedian
- Julia Arthur (1868–1950), stage and film actress
- Robert Beatty (1909–1992), actor who worked in radio, film and television for most of his career and was especially known in the United Kingdom
- Alan Best (1959– ), animation director and producer; began his career as an assistant animator working for Hanna-Barbera studios; also worked on the animated features Heavy Metal (1981) and Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
- Kylie Bunbury (born 1989), actress
- Rick Campanelli (1970– ), MuchMusic video jockey, currently works for ET Canada [7]
- Wendy Crewson (1956– ), actress
- Douglass Dumbrille (1889–1974), actor and Canadian pioneer in early Hollywood
- Jesse Ewles (1981– ), indie film director, writer, creator of music videos for of Montreal, Kathryn Calder, and Grizzly Bear [8]
- Rob Faulds (1955– ), Canadian sports analyst on Rogers Sportsnet and host of sportsnetnews [9]
- Angela Featherstone (born 1965), actress, writer and teacher
- Jonathan Frid (1924–2012), theater, television and movie actor, known for the role of the vampire Barnabas Collins on the first incarnation of the Gothic TV serial Dark Shadows [10]
- Daniel Goldberg (1948/49–2023), film producer ( Space Jam ); worked with Ivan Reitman on Stripes and Meatballs [11]
- Harris Goldberg, film director, writer, and producer [12]
- Currie Graham (1967– ), stage, film and television actor, known for playing Lt. Thomas Bale in the TV program NYPD Blue
- Graham Greene (1952– ), TV and movie actor; born on Six Nations reserve and lived in Hamilton as a young adult; appeared in The Green Mile, on the Red Green Show, L.A. Law and The New Beachcombers [13]
- Jonathan Hale (1892–1966), actor, known as Mr. Dithers in the Blondie movies; committed suicide in Hollywood at age 74
- Adam J. Harrington (1972– ), actor and producer; known for his roles in The Secret Circle , Queer As Folk and Dexter , and as Roy Earle in the video game L.A. Noire
- Trevor Jimenez, animator ( Weekends ) [14]
- Jason Jones, senior correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
- Stana Katic (1978– ), actress, known for her portrayal of Detective Kate Beckett in ABC's Castle [15]
- Luke Kirby (1978– ), actor ( Mambo Italiano ) [16]
- Florence Lawrence (1890–1938), inventor and silent film actress, often referred to as "the first movie star"; also known as "the Biograph Girl" and "the Girl of a Thousand Faces"; appeared in more than 270 films for various motion picture companies [17]
- Chris Lazar (1986– ), actor, known for his role as Young Zach on the series Dark Angel
- Ashley Leggat (1986– ), actress, known for her role as "Casey" in the Disney Channel series Life with Derek
- Eugene Levy (1946– ), actor and writer, known for SCTV , Schitt's Creek and the American Pie film series [10]
- Brian Linehan (1944–2004), television host; known for his celebrity interviews on City Lights , a program produced by Citytv in Toronto
- Del Lord (1894–1970), film director and actor; known as a director of Three Stooges films (Grimsby)
- Patrick McKenna (1960– ), comedic and dramatic actor; known for the television series The Red Green Show and Traders , and the Trudeau miniseries
- Blake Moynes, winner of the seventeenth season of reality television series The Bachelorette [18]
- Kathleen Munroe (born 1982), actress
- Erin Pitt (born 1999), actress
- Paul Popowich (1973– ), actor; beside his theatre appearances, has performed in many television series (Beverly Hills, 90210) and features
- Frank Powell, stage and silent film actor, screenwriter, and director in the United States
- Leon Pownall (1943–2006), actor and director [19]
- Ivan Reitman (1946–2022), Slovakian-born, Canadian-raised film actor, producer, and director; most remembered for directing and producing a string of comedies, mostly in the 1980s and 1990s (Meatballs, Stripes and Ghostbusters ); a founder of the McMaster Film Board at McMaster University [10]
- Rick Roberts, actor
- Kathleen Robertson (1973– ), actress, Beverly Hills, 90210
- Martin Short (1950– ), actor, writer, and producer best known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live [10]
- Floria Sigismondi (1965– ), director (born in Pescara, Italy, raised in Hamilton) [20]
- Steve Smith (1945– ), main actor and writer on television series The Red Green Show
- David Soren, animator
- Sarah Taylor, MuchMusic VJ who now co-hosts many popular shows, including Combat Zone, MuchOnDemand and Take Over [21]
- Dave Thomas (1949– ), comedian and actor, SCTV , Grace Under Fire [10]
- Nerene Virgin, Canadian actress, journalist, and teacher [22]
- Brian Williams, sportscaster, known for his coverage of the Olympic Games (born in Winnipeg, raised in Hamilton) [23]
- Dick Wilson (1916–2007), actor whose claim to fame was working for over 21 years on 504 Charmin toilet paper TV commercials; also made acting appearances on Bewitched , Hogan's Heroes and The Bob Newhart Show [24]
- Gordon Michael Woolvett (1970– ), actor, played Seamus Harper on TV's Andromeda
- Dominic Zamprogna (1979– ), actor, played James "Jammer" Lyman on TV's Battlestar Galactica
- Gema Zamprogna (1976– ), actress, played Felicity King on Road to Avonlea (1989–1996)
Fine arts
- Lida Baday (1957– ), fashion designer [25]
- Blaine (1937–2012), political cartoonist [26]
- William Blair Bruce (1859–1906), painter [27]
- Gino Cavicchioli (1957– ), official sculptor for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame [28]
- Christian Cardell Corbet (1966– ), portrait sculptor
- Hortense Gordon (1886–1961), member of Toronto-based group Painters Eleven; works were exhibited in galleries in Europe and North America [29]
- Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook (1913–2009), portrait sculptor; founder of the Canadian Portrait Academy and Canadian Group of Artists; her career spanned over seventy-five years; principal works include eight stone sculpture panels on the former Federal Building [30]
- Mark Lewis (1958– ), photographer and installation artist who represented Canada at the 2009 Venice Biennale [31]
- Graeme MacKay (1968– ), editorial cartoonist [32]
- Win Mortimer (1919–1998), comic book and comic strip artist, one of the major illustrators of the DC Comics superheroes Superman, Superboy, and Batman [33]
- Frank Panabaker (1904–1992), painter [34]
- Dave Sim (1956– ), comic book writer and artist; creator of Cerebus [35]
- Paul Szep (1941– ), editorial cartoonist; two-time Pulitzer Prize winner [36]
Illusionists
- Greg Frewin (1967– ), illusionist and "World Champion of Magic" [37]
Journalism and writing
- Roy Adams, author, newspaper columnist, human rights activist and academic [38]
- Barbara Amiel, British-Canadian journalist, writer, socialite; wife of Conrad Black
- Gordon Stewart Anderson, author [39]
- Dick Beddoes (1925–1991), former sports journalist for CHCH-TV in Hamilton, the Vancouver Sun , The Globe and Mail (Toronto), and CFRB radio (Toronto); author [40]
- Stephen Brunt, lead sports columnist for The Globe and Mail since 1989 [41]
- John H. Bryden (1943– ), politician, journalist, historian [42]
- Richard Butler (1834–1925), editor, publisher, journalist; the Butler neighbourhood in Hamilton is named after him [43]
- Jojo Chintoh (1944– ), retired television reporter (Citytv) [44]
- Jane Christmas (b 1954), writer [45]
- Trevor Cole, newspaper and magazine columnist, novelist [46]
- Hugh Cook (1942– ), novelist [47]
- Damien Cox, sports columnist for the Toronto Star [ citation needed ]
- Sylvia Fraser (1935– ), novelist and travel writer [48]
- Lawrence Hill, author ( The Book of Negroes ) [49]
- Wentworth M. Johnson (1939–2014), author
- Robert Kirkland Kernighan (1854–1926), poet, journalist; the Kernighan neighbourhood on Hamilton Mountain is named after him [43]
- Gary Lautens (1928–1992), humorist and newspaper columnist; wrote for the Toronto Star from 1962 until his death [10]
- Mark Leslie (1969– ), writer, author of Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle & Other Steeltown Shivers [50]
- Billie Livingston (1965– ), novelist and poet [51]
- David Macfarlane (1952– ), journalist, playwright and novelist [52]
- Emily Maitlis (1970– ), British journalist; born in Hamilton whilst her father was teaching at McMaster University [53]
- Steve Paikin (1960– ), journalist, film producer and author, known for hosting TV Ontario's newsmagazines Studio 2 and Diplomatic Immunity [54]
- John Lawrence Reynolds (1939– ), novelist and non-fiction writer, twice winner of the Arthur Ellis Award [55]
- Melville Marks Robinson (1888– ), founder of the Commonwealth Games [56]
- Doug Saunders (1967– ), journalist, European Bureau Chief for The Globe and Mail [57]
- James Travers, journalist [58]
- Clementina (Fessenden) Trenholme (1844–1918), author, social organizer, and mother of radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden; the Trenholme and Fessenden neighbourhoods on Hamilton Mountain were named after her [43]
- Anuja Varghese, writer [59]
- David Vienneau (1951–2004), journalist who moved to television in 1998 as Ottawa bureau chief at for Global Television, where he remained until his death from pancreatic cancer [60]
- Harriett Annie Wilkins (1829–1888), poet
Music
- Nicole Appleton (1974– ), singer; born in Hamilton but raised in Toronto; one of two Canadian members of the British pop group All Saints, which disbanded in 2001; she and her sister Natalie later formed a second British-based pop group named Appleton [61]
- Ian Astbury, singer (The Cult), spent teen years in Hamilton [62]
- David Braid (1975– ), composer and pianist
- Boris Brott (1944–2022), once an assistant to Leonard Bernstein, he led the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra for 21 years, later creating the Brott Music Festival and National Academy Orchestra [63]
- David Byrne (1952– ), singer-songwriter, guitarist (Talking Heads); lived in Hamilton as a child [64]
- Rita Chiarelli, blues singer [65]
- Colin Cripps (1961– ), musician and record producer [66]
- Eria Fachin (1960–1996), pop singer
- Jeremy Greenspan (1979– ), electronic pop musician best known for Junior Boys
- Jordan Hastings (1982– ), drummer for the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, as well as The Black Lungs and former band Jersey, born in Hamilton but raised in Burlington
- Darcy Hepner, saxophonist, composer arranger
- Udo Kasemets (1919–2014), Estonian-born composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, piano, and electroacoustic works [67]
- Harrison Kennedy (1942– ), electric blues singer and guitarist, formerly part of Chairmen of the Board [68]
- King Biscuit Boy (1944–2003), blues musician, member of Crowbar; the first Canadian blues artist to chart on Billboard in the U.S.; Rolling Stone magazine called him "legendary"; [69] played with Muddy Waters, Joe Cocker, and Janis Joplin; his fans include Keith Richards and Paul McCartney [70]
- Daniel Lanois (1951– ), solo artist, producer for U2, lived in Hamilton and recorded at Grant Avenue Studios [71]
- Jessy Lanza, pop/electronic musician
- Gord Lewis (1956/1957–2002), guitarist for Teenage Head [72]
- Wade MacNeil (1984– ), guitarist and vocalist for the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire and frontman of The Black Lungs
- Brian Melo, winner of Canadian Idol (season five); previously a construction worker [73] [74]
- Haydain Neale (1970–2009), musician (jacksoul) [75]
- Steve Negus, Saga drummer and record producer [76]
- Neil Peart (1952–2020), drummer and lyricist for the progressive rock band Rush [77]
- Skip Prokop (1946–2017), drummer and bandleader for Lighthouse and The Paupers; worked with Cass Elliot, Janis Joplin, Al Kooper and Carlos Santana [78]
- Stan Rogers (1949–1983), folk singer [79]
- Brenda Russell (1949– ), American-born singer-songwriter and keyboardist who lived in Hamilton; known for her eclectic musical style; her genres include pop, soul, jazz and adult contemporary; has worked with Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Sting [80]
- Lorraine Segato, lead vocalist for 1980s new wave music group Parachute Club, noted for the song "Rise Up" [81]
- Ernest Seitz (1892–1978), composer, songwriter, pianist and music educator
- Dan Snaith (1979– ), musician for the bands Caribou, Manitoba and Daphni, born in Dundas
- Tomi Swick, singer-songwriter [82]
- Christian Tanna, drummer and songwriter for I Mother Earth [83]
- Jagori Tanna, guitar player for I Mother Earth [84]
- Ian Thomas (1950– ), singer-songwriter known for the 1973 hit "Painted Ladies"; brother of Dave Thomas
- Alan Walker (1930– ), English-Canadian radio producer, musicologist and academic best known as a biographer and scholar of composer Franz Liszt [85]
- Jackie Washington (1919–2009), blues singer [86]
- Robert Stanley Weir (1856–1926), lawyer, poet, author, best remembered as the author of the English lyrics to "O Canada" [43]
- Simon Wilcox (1976– ), songwriter based in Los Angeles
- Tom Wilson, rock musician [87]
Pageantry
- Leanne Baird, Miss Canada International in 1998 [88]
- Venessa Fisher (1986– ), Miss Universe Canada 2004; from Waterdown [89]
Radio
- Richard Alway, former radio broadcast commentator, current and first lay President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St. Michael's College [90]
- Bob Bratina, radio personality, elected MP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, former City Councillor for Downtown Ward 2 and Mayor of Hamilton [91] [92]
- Roy Green, staple of the Hamilton radio scene [93]
- Sue Prestedge, sports broadcaster, one of Canada's first and most influential female sports journalists; coordinator of the Advanced Journalism program at Mohawk College [94]
Theatre
- Nick Cordero (1978–2020), Broadway actor [95]
- Diane Dupuy, founder of the Famous People Players in 1974, a professional black light theatre company that combines music with characters that pay tribute to the music and artistry of famous people; the group was discovered by Liberace, who took them to Las Vegas to perform; they have been performing around the world ever since [96]
- Sky Gilbert (1952– ), artistic director, actor, academic and drag performer; opened the Hammertheatre Company in January 2007 in Hamilton; the theatre is devoted to Gilbert's plays, which deal with issues of gender and sexuality [97] [98]
