1

Jim Carrey

Image: Avel Chuklanov

Jim Carrey, the man with the "rubber face" himself, is a famously Canadian actor known for his comedic roles in Ace Ventura , The Mask , Dumb and Dumber , and for his more dramatic roles in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Truman Show , among many other movies.

Jim was born in Newmarket, Ontario , to Kathleen and Percy Carrey. He was raised Catholic and has three older siblings: John, Patricia, and Rita. The family’s original surname was Carré.

2

Avril Lavigne

Image: Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦

Early 2000s skate-punk rock teenage star Avril Lavigne recorded Let Go , the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist, in 2002 and was named the "Pop-Punk Queen" by the media at the time.

She was born in Belleville, Ontario , and, as the story goes, her parents recognized her vocal abilities when she was two years old and sang "Jesus Loves Me" on the way home from church.

3

Michael J. Fox

Image: Roger Ce

One of the most beloved Canadians of all time is Michael J. Fox, the actor who portrayed Marty McFly in the Back to the Future movies. He began his career as a child actor on the NBC sitcom Family Ties and starred in many movies in the '80s and '90s, beyond his famous role as the time-traveling teenager.

Fox was born in Edmonton, Alberta , and in 1998, he disclosed his diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. Since then, the actor has become an advocate for finding a cure and founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 to help fund research. Worsening symptoms have since forced him to reduce his acting work.

4

Celine Dion

Image: Edward Cisneros

The Queen of Power Ballads, noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, was born into a large family in Charlemagne, Quebec . Despite starting her career singing in French, Celine Dion became internationally famous thanks to her best-selling albums Falling Into You and Let’s Talk About Love . Her song "My Heart Will Go On," the theme from the 1997 film Titanic , is probably her most famous work.

She was the youngest of 14 children and as a baby, Dion slept in a drawer instead of a crib to save money. With over 200 million records sold worldwide, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, the best-selling French-language artist, and one of the best-selling musical artists of all time.

5

Dan Aykroyd

Image: Lance Grandahl

Dan Aykroyd, known as one of the Blues Brothers and a member of the original Ghostbusters , is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and former SNL cast member. Despite being best known for his comedic roles, he was nominated in 1990 for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Boolie Werthan in Driving Miss Daisy.

Aykroyd was born in Ottawa, Ontario , to Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd, a civil engineer, and Lorraine Hélène Marie, a secretary. His mother was of French-Canadian descent, and his father was of English, Scottish, Irish, French, and Dutch ancestry.

6

Chris Hadfield

Image: Niketh Vellanki

It is always inspiring to see someone who is truly in love with their job and shares that same passion with the rest of us. And, while one could argue that being an astronaut is an easy job to fall in love with, very few astronauts, if any, have been able to convey what Canadian retired astronaut Chris Hadfield does.

Hadfield was born in Sarnia, Ontario . As the first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, he has flown on two Space Shuttle missions and also served as commander of the International Space Station (ISS). During this mission, he documented life onboard the space station by posting on various social media platforms. He appeared on television news and talk shows and gained popularity by performing David Bowie’s "Space Oddity" in space.

7

Alanis Morissette

Image: Jason Buscema

A 1990s phenomenon, Alanis Morissette stormed the charts with her 1995 album Jagged Little Pill , which sold more than 33 million copies worldwide and made her a star. She has released several albums since and has sold more than 75 million records.

Morissette was born in Ottawa, Ontario , to Georgia Mary Ann and Alan Richard Morissette. She has a twin brother, Wade (12 minutes older), who is also a musician.

8

Keanu Reeves

Image: Matthew Ball

A genuine on-screen tough guy and off-screen nice guy, Keanu Reeves is best known for his roles as Neo in the Matrix franchise and as John Wick in the films of the same name, among many other roles.

While Keanu was not born in Canada — he was born in Beirut —he is on this list because he was raised in Toronto and made his acting debut in the Canadian television series Hangin' In (1984). An avid motorcyclist, Reeves is the co-founder of the custom motorcycle manufacturer ARCH Motorcycle.

9

Neil Young

Image: Ahmed Rizkhaan

Legendary rocker Neil Young started his career in Winnipeg in the 1960s before joining Buffalo Springfield in Los Angeles. He has released critically acclaimed albums like After the Gold Rush and Harvest , participated in the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and has been an active promoter of environmental causes in both his native Canada and the U.S.

Born in Toronto, Neil Young is one of the few people to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: in 1995 as a solo artist and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield.

10

James Cameron

Image: Michal Mrozek

Most people would think that being a film director known for Terminator 2 , Titanic , and Avatar , among many other blockbusters, would be accomplishment enough. But not for James Cameron, who also decided to become the first person to make a solo descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of Earth's ocean.

Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario , and spent summers on his grandfather's farm. He attended Stamford Collegiate in Niagara Falls. Three of Cameron's films are among the top four highest-grossing films of all time: Avatar , Avatar: The Way of Water , and Titanic hold the positions of highest, third-highest, and fourth-highest-grossing films, respectively. Not bad, right?

1

Coyotes

Image: Ray Hennessy

Coyotes have a natural talent for survival, and they are built to thrive in any environment, including cities where food is readily available everywhere.

As it has been noticed multiple times, coyotes have deciphered how semaphors work and wait for the red light to cross the street.

2

Black bears

Image: Bruce Warrington

Studies have shown that female black bears living in urban areas aged one to one and a half years weighed nearly twice as much as their country counterparts. Some of those urban female bears produced cubs, while none of the rural bears of the same age reproduced.

Curiously, bears seem to know when it is trash day and will scavenge for food in trash cans on those dates specifically.

3

Raccoons

Image: Ralf Volkmer

Raccoons that live in urban environments are more exploratory than their country cousins, taking more time to investigate the squares. Some raccoons even figure out how to yank bungee cords off of trash cans .

These city animals are also more social, traveling in pairs more often than their rural relatives.

4

Bald eagles

Image: Alexas_Fotos

Believe it or not, in the 1960s, the bald eagle was on the verge of extinction due to the use of pesticides. But since those pesticides have been banned, their population has rebounded, and they're no longer on the list of endangered species.

City eagles need only a place to nest and a clean source of food, which can even be a trashcan, and they’ve figured out how to use city infrastructure like cellphone towers, bridges, and cranes along waterways .

5

Pigeons

Image: Dawood Javed

Possibly the most urban animal on the list, aside from rats, pigeons are uniquely suited to urban life. They can recognize human faces , so they know which people have fed them before.

These creatures have an incredible ability to distribute themselves, so there are never more pigeons than available food. A park with twice as much food as another park will also have twice as many pigeons.

6

Booklice

Image: Brett Jordan

Whether we see it or not, our homes are filled with insect life. One of them, booklice, has found that the starch in book bindings makes an ideal food source.

Booklice have adapted to suck the moisture directly out of the air and can live off that vapour for three weeks, avoiding dehydration.

7

Squirrels

Image: Mark Brennan

Squirrels and urban environments have gotten along for a long time now. There’s ample food and shelter, and few natural predators. They’ve learned to live in much greater densities in cities than they do in other environments, and they can tell which humans will feed them .

8

Sparrows

Image: Carlos Quintero

The sparrows that live in New York City have become night owls, staying out later to feed because the bright lights around buildings draw plenty of insects .

9

Rats

Image: Joshua J. Cotten

Almost no one would call a rat clean, but contrary to popular belief, city rats tend to carry fewer diseases and parasites than rural ones because they have less contact with livestock excrement from farms, and their human neighbors don’t harbor many parasites.

10

Ospreys

Image: KaroGraphix Photography

Ospreys have seen their numbers grow in North America partially because they have forsaken trees in favor of building their 250-pound nests on power poles, cell phone towers, channel markers , and other human-made structures.

11

Crows

Image: Veronica Dudarev

Crows are very smart creatures, and they have learned to use the city infrastructure to their advantage. These birds drop nuts and bones from great heights to crack the hard outer shells so that they can reach the food inside. City crows simply drop the previously impenetrable food into the street and let the cars crack it open .

12

Tomcods

Image: John Werner

Nature can adapt to almost anything, and tomcods are living proof of this. A very polluted segment of the Hudson River is home to these humble fish, who have adapted to its contaminated waters through genetic variations that allow them to thrive in such conditions.

1

Being annoying

We all have bad days where our mood goes south, but in Florida, you’d better keep those frustrations to yourself . Ever since 1832, the Sunshine State has had a broad nuisance statute that classifies anything that "annoys the community, injures public health, or corrupts public morals" as a second-degree misdemeanor. Of course, the law was intended to address community hazards like toxic waste disposal or unsafe buildings. Modern enforcement targets environmental hazards and serious health violations. Personal annoyances are off-limits, since what qualifies as "annoying" is completely subjective.

2

Honking with no purpose

We’ve all used our car horn to wave at a neighbor or used it to vent a little frustration in traffic. However, in New Jersey, according to their traffic code, your horn is legally reserved for safety warnings only . In this state, using it for any non-emergency reason is technically a traffic violation since 1968. Unless you are trying to prevent a fender-bender or warn a distracted driver, it is best to keep your hands off the steering wheel's center and just give a friendly wave instead.

3

Dangling car decorations

If you have a pine-scented air freshener or a set of graduation tassels swinging from your rearview mirror, you might be looking at a ticket in some states. Laws vary across the country, but for example, in California, the law states that there cannot be anything obstructing the view through the windshield or side window . This rule is part of the California Vehicle Code, enforced in 1959. In Texas, the regulation is similar according to the state Transportation Code, and Minnesota, in turn, has had a law since 1957 making it strictly illegal to hang anything from the mirror. Nobody has anything against a nice-smelling car or a beautiful lucky charm, but when they obstruct your view , that’s a problem for everyone on the road.

4

Handling a stranger’s mail

It’s not unusual to find a stack of letters addressed to the person who lived in your house three years ago, right? Now, your first instinct might be to toss it in the bin . Believe it or not, that’s a big no-no since 1948, clearly stated in the U.S. Code. Tossing out mail intended for someone else into the garbage is considered a federal felony, and penalties can be severe, including up to five years in federal prison and fines up to $250,000. The proper way to proceed is to write "refused" or "return to sender" on the envelope and let the post office take it from there.

5

Forgetting to tell the DMV you moved

Life gets busy and messy when you move to a new house, so it’s easy for updating your driver's license to fall to the bottom of the to-do list. However, in most states, you are legally required to notify the DMV of your change of address within a very short window, usually ten to thirty days . In California, for example, you must do this within ten days. If you get pulled over and your license doesn't match your current address, you could get a fine. Time really flies when moving, but make sure to write this on the very top of your to-do list, and you’ll be fine!

6

Letting the engine on

Isn’t it common to start the car on a frosty morning to let it warm up while you finish getting ready? Well, if you do this, you’re technically breaking the law in some states: since 2004, in Ohio and Colorado, this is actually a citable offense known as "puffing." Leaving an unattended vehicle idling in your driveway is illegal because it invites car theft and contributes to unnecessary exhaust emissions. If you want to get the heater going, the law expects you to stay right there in the driver's seat until you’re ready to pull away.

7

Prank pizzas

In Louisiana, ordering a stack of pizzas to be delivered to an unsuspecting friend as a prank is more than just a lousy joke; it’s a crime. Believe it or not, there’s a reason behind this law. Passed in 2018, the Louisiana Revised Statute was specifically written to protect small businesses from losing time and money on fake orders. Can you imagine how annoying it must be to deal with a pranked customer who doesn’t want the five pizzas they got out of the blue? Even if it started as a joke, the authorities now view it as a form of theft that can result in a fine of up to $500, imprisonment for up to six months, or both.

8

Playing hairdresser

If you’ve ever offered to give a friend a quick perm or some highlights in your kitchen, you might be an accidental criminal. In the US, performing any kind of cosmetology service on another person without a professional license is illegal. Forms of enforcement and penalties depend on each state, but most follow the rules established by the National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology, which grants licenses following pertinent examinations. Of course, a bangs cut is not always a problem, but these kinds of regulations were created to ensure that chemicals and sharp tools are handled safely by trained experts.

9

No-hands bike riding

Riding a bike is fun, especially for kids who like to do tricks and take both hands off the handlebars. But in North Carolina, that’s a traffic violation, according to the city code. The statute requires cyclists to keep at least one hand on the grip at all times to maintain control of the bike. Fines for this behavior can go up to $50 and even imprisonment for up to 30 days. Riding a bike without using your hands might feel like a fun way to show off skills, but the consequences can be serious.

10

Tossing out old batteries

When the remote dies, most people are tempted to just drop the old batteries into the kitchen trash can, but you might want to think that over, especially if you live in California. As of 2005, in this state, household batteries are classified as hazardous waste because they contain chemicals that leak into the soil. The California Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act requires you to take them to a proper recycling center instead of the regular landfill. It takes a little more effort to do the right thing, but it keeps the local environment a lot cleaner for everyone.

11

Lending your Wi-Fi password

You’ve just moved, and you ask your friendly neighbor to share their Wi-Fi password until your internet is set up. That’s pretty common, but that’s also been a felony since 1986. The feds view this as unauthorized access to a computer network . Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, jumping on a signal you don't have explicit and formal permission to use is technically a crime. It’s better to stick to the local coffee shop than risk a run-in over a bit of borrowed bandwidth.