Our True North Celebrities Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford acquired her stage name during a stint on Broadway in 1907 in a supporting role (the William C. deMille play "The Warrens of Virginia"). Producer David Belasco insisted that she assume the stage name Mary Pickford.

Pickford received the Academy Award for Best Actress at in April of 1930 for the 1929 film "Coquette". She played Norma Besant, a young flirtatious woman who fell in love with a man whom her father did not approve of. The film was a tragedy almost in the Shakespearean style, as her own father shot the man she was in love with, then later took his own life in remorse.

Her film career spanned 52 feature films, and she was part of the group (including D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks) who formed the independant film company United Artists in 1919. In 1976 she received an Academy Honorary Award for her lifetime achievements, only three years before her death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1979 at the age of 87.

Answer: Glenn Ford

Glenn Ford was born in Québec City in 1916, a great-nephew of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1939, just as he was beginning his film career.

Ford was matched with Rita Hayworth in five films during his career. The first was "The Lady in Question" (1940), followed by "Gilda" (1946), "The Loves of Carmen" (1948), "Affair in Trinidad" (1952), and "The Money Trap" (1965). Perhaps best known for his Westerns, though, Ford was voted the number one box office attraction in 1958. He was even credited with being the fastest 'draw' of Western actors, able to draw and fire a gun in 0.4 seconds.

For more recent generations of movie-goers, you may remember Glenn Ford in the role of Jonathan Kent - foster father to Superman - in the 1978 film of the same name.

Answer: William Shatner

William Shatner was born in Montréal, Québec in 1931. He trained as a Shakespearean actor, participating in many plays at Ontario's Stratford Festival before entering the film industry. His first Canadian film was "The Butler's Night Off" (1951) and he had some television appearances leading up to his first feature (Hollywood) film "The Brothers Karamazov" in 1958.

"Star Trek" lasted three seasons from 1966 to 1969, but for Shatner and the rest of the Enterprise crew, it didn't end there. A short-lived animated series followed in 1973-74, and then the movie franchise began in 1979. Shatner acted in seven "Trek" films from 1979 to 1994.

Not limiting himself to acting, Shatner has also made a name for himself as an author and musician.

Answer: Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland was born in 1935 in New Brunswick, but lived in Nova Scotia as a teenager. His first job at the age of 14 was as a news correspondent for the Bridgewater radio station CKBW. He moved to Toronto, Ontario to go to university, and acquired degrees in Engineering and Drama.

Sutherland's first role in a feature film (after doing a number of television roles) was "Il castello dei morti vivi" (1964), a horror film with Christopher Lee. Over 50 years in the film business, Sutherland has amassed over 150 acting credits.

Incidentally, Donald Sutherland is the father of fellow actor Kiefer Sutherland, also a proud Canadian.

Answer: Paul Anka

Paul Anka was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1941, and managed to record his first single at the age of 14, entiled "I Confess". "Diana" was his first big hit, released in 1957 and shooting to the top of the charts in both Canada and the U.S. In 1959 he toured Australia with Buddy Holly, shortly before that iconic singer's death.

Anka also made the jump into film as both an actor and as a writer for soundtracks. His credits as a soundtrack writer number over 150 titles, while as an actor, only 17.

Answer: False

The host of "Jeopardy", of course, is Alex Trebek, who hosted the show from its revival in 1984 (it originally aired in 1964, hosted by Art Fleming). He hosted many other shows over the years prior to "Jeopardy", including such classics as "Pitfalls" and "High Rollers".

Trebek has a concrete slab in front of the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at Disney's Hollywood Studios that includes his handprints and the inscription, "Who is Alex Trebek?"

Monty Hall was also a Canadian game show host (from Winnipeg, Manitoba), but he was the host of "Let's Make a Deal", which first aired in 1963.

Answer: Michael J. Fox

Michael Andrew Fox was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1961, but for the first ten years of his life he moved around a lot as a member of a military family. When his father retired in 1971, they settled in Burnaby, B.C. Michael managed to get early exposure to the professional acting world with a role in the Canadian series "Leo and Me" at the age of 15. When he turned 18, he moved to Los Angeles, set on making acting a career.

Fox chose to add the 'J' to his name due to the requirement that there be no duplication of names within the Screen Actors Guild registry, and there was already another Michael Fox listed. He preferred not to go with Andrew or Andy Fox, and instead added the 'J' as a tribute to actor Michael J. Pollard.

The movie references in the question, in case you weren't sure, were the "Back to the Future" (1985) trilogy, "Teen Wolf" (1985), and "Doc Hollywood" (1991).

Answer: Celine Dion

Celine Dion was born in Charlemagne, Québec in 1968, the youngest of 14 siblings. At the age of 12 she composed and recorded a song that her brother sent in to music manager René Angélil. He was so impressed that he decided to make her a star, going so far as to mortgage his own house to finance her first album (in 1981). That album ("La voix du bon Dieu") became a hit in Québec.

Dion began to achieve fame internationally, but did not really achieve her highest acclaims until after she finally learned English in the late 1980s.

One of her most well-known songs is "My Heart Will Go On", the theme song from the 1997 film "Titanic". It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and earned Dion two Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year.

Answer: James Cameron

Raised in Ontario, James Cameron moved to California at the age of 17 (in 1971). In 1977, after seeing "Star Wars", Cameron quit his job as a trucker to go into the film industry. After various small projects, Cameron wrote and sold his script for "The Terminator" to Hemdale Pictures with the caveat that he be the one to direct it.

Cameron went on to become one of the most successful Hollywood directors, and has garnered for himself a reputation for perfectionism -- to the point that many actors have found him very difficult to work with.

Answer: Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber was born in London, Ontario, and grew up in nearby Stratford. He was 'discovered' by Scooter Braun, an American talent manager with the Raymond-Braun Media Group and Schoolboy Records. Braun tracked Justin down, and convinced his mom to let him go to Atlanta, Georgia to record demos -- Justin was 13 at the time.

Bieber's debut album was released in two parts: "My World" and "My World 2.0". The first part sold 137,000 copies in its first week, and went platinum in less than two months.