At OntarioBets.com, we are more than about just Ontario sports betting.
For instance, we wanted to take a hyper-localized approach to see which celebrities that were raised in the province of Ontario have been discussed the most in the past year – ultimately concluding they would be the most well-known celebrities.
Here is what we found.
The Top 10
In the top spot is Justin Bieber, from London, Ontario. It’s hard to believe that the 28-year-old has now been in the public eye for 15 years, but since his start on social media and discovery by Scooter Braun, Bieber has sold more than 150 million records, and scored with an array of smooth pop/R&B hits such as "Baby," "Sorry" and "Despacito." He’s released his own fragrances and has been a spokesman for Tim Horton’s donuts. In 2018, he married model Hailey Baldwin.
Behind Bieber is Drake, 35, from Toronto. The rapper-actor-businessman has sold an estimated 170 million records worldwide over a career that started at age 15 with a role in “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” His debut album, “Thank Me Later,” came out in 2010. One of his biggest crossover hits was the song, “Hotline Bling.”
In third place is our first actor, Newcastle’s Jim Carrey, 60. Carrey became well-known in 1990 when he first appeared on the sketch comedy show, “In Living Color.” He parlayed that into a lengthy movie career, starting with hits such as “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” “The Mask” and “Dumb and Dumber.” He most recently was in two “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies. In April of 2022, he said he’s retired from acting.
Ryan Gosling, 41, from London, comes in fourth. One of the many stars to ascend from Disney Channel’s reboot of “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the early-1990s, Gosling became a movie star following the 2004 release of “The Notebook.” Other prominent roles have been in “Drive,” “La La Land” and “Blade Runner 2049.” He recently starred in “The Gray Man” on Netflix and will next be seen playing Ken in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”
Rounding out the Top 5 is Toronto actress Nina Dobrev, 33. Dobrev also got her start in “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” but became famous for her 6-year run on “The Vampire Diaries.” She’s worked steadily ever since in movies and television. She’s also a dual citizen of Canada and Bulgaria.
Time for The Weeknd
At No. 6 on the chart, there’s singer/songwriter The Weeknd, 32, from Toronto. His 2015 album, “Beauty Behind the Madness,” made him a worldwide star with hits like “The Hills” and “Can’t Feel My Face.” In 2021, he headlined the halftime show at Super Bowl LV.
Number 7 is London’s Rachel McAdams, 43, Ryan Gosling’s co-star in “The Notebook,” released the same year she co-starred in “Mean Girls.” The following year, 2005, came a role in “Wedding Crashers,” and since then she’s appeared in films such “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and “Doctor Strange” and in the second season of HBO’s “True Detective.”
Coming in at No. 8 is Belleville pop-punk queen Avril Lavigne, 38, who burst onto the scene 20 years ago as a teenager with the massive hits “Complicated” and “Sk8er Boi.” Her 2002 album “Let’s Go,” is still this century’s best-selling album by a Canadian artist with sales over 16 million. Take that, Bieber and Drake.
Singer Shawn Mendes, 24, from Pickering, is No. 9. Mendes got his start as a 15-year-old posting videos to Vine and in 2016 broke through with the hits “Treat You Better” and “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back.” From 2019 to 2021, he was in a much gossiped about relationship with pop star Camila Cabello.
Last, but most certainly not least, is Windsor’s Shania Twain, 57, only the biggest selling solo female country artist in history with more than 100 million in sales (I guess they don’t count Taylor Swift as a country artist). With a series of mid-1990s country-pop empowerment anthems (“Man! I Feel Like a Woman,” “That Don’t Impress Me Much,”), Twain changed the face of country music.
Methodology
OntarioBets.com utilized a weighted system between AhRefs.com Keywords Explorer and Google Trends to look at the most-searched Ontario celebrities over the past 12 months. Once finding both statistics, they were averaged to determine the Top 10. Ontario celebrity was defined as a person who resided in Ontario in their formative childhood and teenage years for more than 10 years. Celebrity was broken down to include only actors/actresses, singer/songwriters, TV personalities, comedians, dancers and social media influencers.
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