It's Canada Day, and in celebration of that time of year where we all think about the great things that Canada has given to the world, we decided to play a game of 'Is this person Canadian or not?' in the office.

It makes for a wildly unpopular board game, but it did bring to our attention the fact that there are plenty of famous people out there who are bonafide maple syrup drinking, hockey loving, oot and aboot saying Canadians who we didn't actually realise were from The True North, strong and free. 

Now, before we start the list, let's make it clear that we're not including famous Canadians, like such as Ryan Gosling, Celine Dion or Michael Buble, rather the ones that you might not have known were actually Canadian. And if you did know, well then congratulations, you know more about Canada than us, eh.

 

Kiefer Sutherland

The star of 24 and the new voice of Snake in Metal Gear Solid is a British-born Canadian, and we genuinely had no idea of that until this very day. Still, given that both his parents Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas are successful Canadian actors who have their own stars on the Toronto Walk of Fame, that's our bad really. Also, a maple leaf of fame would be way cooler, Toronto. Anyway, his on-screen daughter Elisha Cuthbert is Canadian too, so honourable mention to her.  

 

Rachel McAdams

The star of the new series of True Detective (and fellow Toronto Walk of Famer) is showing her badass side as Sheriff Ani Bezzerides, which involves a lot of her giving her best "I'm disappointed in you" face, at least so far. Just look at that glare. 

 

Taylor Kitsch

That's right, Taylor is Canadian too, and his real name isn't Tim Riggins, which was just as big a shock to us. He's not from Texas at all, as it turns out.

 

Evangeline Lily

Having starred in Ant-Man she's definitely got a few more blockbuster Marvel movies to look forward to, which marks a big turnaround since she claimed she had given up on acting after Lost. She's also expecting her second child soon too, so there's busy times ahead for Lily.

 

Carly Rae Jepsen

We really, really, really, really really, really, really, really, really, really didn't know she was Canadian. That might sound crazy, we know, but we'd just never looked into it.

 

William Shatner

Pop culture icon and verified Canadian William Shatner really has done it all in his career, from starring in a wildly successful franchise to releasing his own weird singing/spoken word album thing that has stood the test of time. This list simply wouldn't be complete without him. 

 

Honourable Mentions:

The Rock

The man mountain is apparently eligible for Canadian citizenship, but hasn't taken them up on the offer yet. Surely it's only a matter of time...

Terrence & Phillip

They're fictional characters so they can't make the list, but hell, they taught us more about Canada than anyone else has in our lifetime. 

Main pic via Gavin St. Ours