List of people from Nova Scotia

This is a list of notable people who were either born or lived in Nova Scotia, Canada, or have spent a large part or formative part of their career in that province.

• Cory Bowles – Canadian actor
• Lucy DeCoutere – Canadian actress and air force officer
• Richard Donat – Canadian actor
• Ellen Dubin – Canadian actress
• Arlene Duncan – Canadian actress
• Barrie Dunn – Canadian actor, producer and lawyer
• John Dunsworth – Canadian actor and comedian (1946-2017)
• Sarah Dunsworth-Nickerson – Canadian actress and costume designer
• Lex Gigeroff – Television writer and actor
• Leslie Hope – Canadian actress
• Michael Jackson – Canadian actor, grip and gaffer (born 1970)
• Shauna MacDonald – Canadian actress
• Martha MacIsaac – Canadian actress (born 1984)
• Marguerite McNeil – Canadian actress (1935–2021)
• Mary-Colin Chisholm – Canadian actress
• Elliot Page – Canadian actor and producer (born 1987)
• Mona Louise Parsons – Canadian actress
• Gordon Pinsent – Canadian actor and writer (1930–2023)
• Laura Regan – Canadian actress (born 1977)
• Nancy Regan – Canadian actress, journalist, and news anchor
• Patrick Roach – Canadian actor and investor (born 1969)
• Tara Spencer-Nairn – Canadian actress (born 1978)
• Shelley Thompson – Canadian actress
• Jonathan Torrens – Canadian actor and television personality
• Robb Wells – Canadian actor and screenwriter

• Andrew R. Cobb – Canadian-American architect (1876–1943)
• Brian MacKay-Lyons – Canadian architect
• David Ewart – Canadian architect (1841–1921)
• Leslie R. Fairn – Canadian architect (1875–1971)
• William Critchlow Harris – Canadian architect (1854–1913)

• Earl Bailly – Canadian artist (1903–1977)
• Frances Bannerman – Canadian painter and poet (1855-1944)
• Alex Colville – Canadian artist (1920–2013)
• William E. deGarthe – Finnish painter (1907–1983)
• Nancy Edell – Canadian artist (1942-2005)
• Gerald Ferguson – Canadian-American conceptual artist and painter
• Tom Forrestall – Canadian realist painter (1936–2024)
• Carol Hoorn Fraser – American-born Canadian artist (1930–1991)
• Jack L. Gray – Canadian artist
• Randolph Hewton – Canadian painter
• Ursula Johnson – Canadian Mi'kmaq artist
• Joy Laking – Canadian artist (born 1950)
• George Lang – Scottish stonemason and master builder (1821–1881)
• Arthur Lismer – English-Canadian painter (1885-1969)
• Maud Lewis – Nova Scotian folk artist
• Maria Morris Miller – Canadian artist (1813–1875)
• Elizabeth Styring Nutt – British-Canadian artist and educator
• John O'Brien – Canadian marine artist
• Henry Mortikar Rosenberg
• Edith Smith – Canadian artist (1867-1954)
• William Valentine – Nova Scotian painter (1798–1849)

• John Bragg – Canadian businessman (born 1940)
• Ezra Churchill – Canadian politician (1804–1874)
• Nina Cohen – Canadian philanthropist (1907–1991)
• Enos Collins – Nova Scotian merchant, banker, and privateer
• Samuel Cunard – British-Canadian shipping magnate (1787–1865)
• Cyrus S. Eaton – Canadian-American banker, businessman and philanthropist (1883–1979)
• Rose Fortune – Canadian businesswoman (1774–1864)
• Alfred Fuller – Canada-born American businessman
• Alexander Keith – Canadian politician (1795–1873)
• Gilbert McKenna – Canadian politician (1800–post-1877)
• Joseph Salter – Canadian businessman and politician
• Frank H. Sobey – Canadian businessman (1902–1985)
• Frank Stanfield – Canadian entrepreneur and politician (1872–1931)
• John Stanfield – Canadian industrialist and politician (1868–1934)
• James McGregor Stewart – Canadian lawyer (1889–1955)
• William Stevens Fielding – Canadian politician (1848–1929)
• Sandford Fleming – Scottish-Canadian engineer and inventor (1827–1915)
• Charles Frederick Fraser – First superintendent of the Halifax School for the Blind

• Kate Beaton – Canadian comics artist (born 1983)
• Bob Chambers – Canadian cartoonist and illustrator
• Hal Foster – Canadian-American illustrator (1892–1982)

• Audri Mukhopadhyay – Canadian diplomat and economist

• William Johnston Almon – Canadian surgeon and politician (1816–1901)
• Maria Louisa Angwin – First woman licensed to practice medicine in Nova Scotia, Canada
• William Bruce Almon – Nova Scotian physician and politician
• Alvinus Calder – Canadian physician (1892–1975)
• Helen Kendall – Canadian military nurse (1892–1985)
• Clement Ligoure – Trinidadian doctor in Canada (1887–1922)
• Eva Waddell Mader Macdonald – Canadian academic (1902–1997)
• Charles Tupper – Father of Confederation, Prime Minister of Canada in 1896
• Alfred Waddell – Trinidadian physician (1896–1953)

• Mike Clattenburg – Canadian filmmaker and producer
• Phil Comeau – Canadian film and television director
• Paul Donovan – Canadian television and film writer, director and producer
• Jason Eisener – Canadian film writer, editor and director
• Thom Fitzgerald – American film director
• Daniel MacIvor – Canadian actor and director
• Daniel Petrie – Canadian film, television, and stage director
• Noah Pink – Canadian screenwriter

• Alexander Graham Bell – Canadian-American inventor of telephone (1847–1922)
• Walter Harris Callow – Canadian veteran and inventor
• Charles Fenerty – Canadian inventor and poet (1821–1892)
• Abraham Pineo Gesner – Inventor of kerosene (1797–1864)

• Charles de Menou d'Aulnay – Governor of Acadia and Seigneur of Port Royal
• Françoise-Marie Jacquelin – Acadian woman (1621–1645)
• Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin – French military officer (1652–1707)
• Sébastien Rale – French Jesuit missionary (1657–1724)
• Jean-Baptiste Cope – Mi'kmaq leader (1698–1758-60)
• Jean-Louis Le Loutre – Catholic priest, missionary & military leader (1709-1772)
• Charles Lawrence – British Army officer (1709–1760)
• Silvanus Cobb – Massachusetts provincial army captain
• Jonathan Eddy – American military officer and politician
• John Allan – Canadian politician and officer with the Massachusetts Militia
• Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste – French privateer in Acadia (1663–1714)
• Joseph-Nicolas Gautier – Acadian merchant and leader (1689–1752)
• John Gyles – American soldier and interpreter
• John Handfield – British military officer (c.1693–1787)
• Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour – Governor of Acadia and Seigneur of Port Royal
• Madockawando – Penobscot Chief during King William's War
• Pierre Maillard – French-born priest (c.1710–1762)
• Charles Morris – Canadian army officer, officeholder and judge
• Pierre II Surette – Acadian man (1709–1789)

• Provo Wallis – Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet (1791–1892)
• John Charles Beckwith – British army officer (1789–1862)
• Edward Belcher – Royal Navy Admiral (1799–1877)
• Fenwick Williams – 19th-century Nova Scotian officer of the British Army
• John Eardley Inglis – British army officer (1814–1862)
• William Hall (VC) – Canadian Royal Navy hero
• George Augustus Westphal – Royal Navy admiral (1785–1875)

• Philip Bent – Recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Harold Lothrop Borden – Canadian military officer
• Walter Harris Callow – Canadian veteran and inventor
• John Croak – Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Clarence Dunlap – Canadian Air Force officer (1908–2003)
• Leonard W. Murray – Canadian admiral in WW II (1896–1971)
• James Peter Robertson – Canadian Victoria Cross recipient (1883-1917)
• William Grant Stairs – Canadian-British explorer, soldier, and adventurer

People

• Brian Ahern (producer)
• Carroll Baker – American actress (born 1931)
• Gary Beals – Canadian singer
• Buck 65 – Canadian hip hop artist
• George Canyon – Canadian country music singer
• Wilf Carter – Canadian singer and yodeler (1904–1996)
• Classified – Canadian rapper and record producer (born 1977)
• Holly Cole – Canadian jazz singer
• J. P. Cormier – Canadian musician
• Melanie Doane – Canadian musician
• Denny Doherty – Canadian singer and musician (1940–2007)
• Todd Fancey – Canadian musician
• Leslie Feist – Canadian musician
• J.D. Fortune – Canadian singer and songwriter (born 1973)
• Bruce Guthro – Canadian singer (1961–2023)
• Rebekah Higgs – Canadian indie rock singer and songwriter
• Ashley MacIsaac – Canadian musician
• Natalie MacMaster – Canadian musician
• Kevin MacMichael – Canadian guitarist (1951–2002)
• Rita MacNeil – Canadian singer-songwriter (1944–2013)
• Matt Mays – Canadian musician (born 1979)
• Sarah McLachlan – Canadian musician (born 1968)
• Matt Minglewood – Canadian musician
• Anne Murray – Canadian country singer (born 1945)
• Joel Plaskett – Canadian singer-songwriter (born 1975)
• Steve Poltz – Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1960)
• Heather Rankin – Canadian singer, songwriter and actor (born 1967)
• Jimmy Rankin – Canadian musician
• Stan Rogers – Canadian folk musician (1949–1983)
• Gordie Sampson – Canadian musician
• Tara Slone – Canadian singer
• Laura Smith – Canadian singer-songwriter (1952–2020)
• Hank Snow – Canadian musician (1914–1999)
• Scott Storch – American record producer and songwriter (born 1973)
• Portia White – Canadian opera singer
• JRDN – Canadian singer
• Jody Upshaw – Canadian musician

Bands

• April Wine – Canadian rock band
• The Barra MacNeils – Canadian musical group
• The Rankin Family – Canadian music group
• Rawlins Cross – Canadian Celtic band
• Sloan – Canadian rock band
• The Trews – Canadian rock band

• Jeremy Akerman – English-Canadian politician, writer and actor (born 1942)
• David H. Armstrong – American politician (1812–1893)
• Robert Chisholm – Canadian politician (born 1957)
• Noël Doiron – Leader of the Acadians
• Chris d'Entremont – Canadian politician
• Myra Freeman – Lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia from 2000 to 2006
• Paul Hatfield – Canadian politician (1873–1935)
• Joseph Howe – Canadian politician (1804–1873)
• Gordon Benjamin Isnor – Canadian merchant and politician
• Rocky Jones – Canadian politician (1941–2013)
• Mary Theresa King-Myers – First female municipal councillor in rural Canada
• Leonard Arthur Kitz – First Jewish mayor of Halifax, Nova Scotia
• John Lohr – Canadian politician
• Peter MacKay – Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1965)
• Allan MacMaster – Canadian politician (born 1974)
• Alexa McDonough – Canadian politician (1944–2022)
• Derek Mombourquette – Canadian politician
• John William Ritchie – Canadian Father of Confederation (1808–1890)
• William Roche – Canadian politician (1842–1925)
• John Savage – Premier of Nova Scotia from 1993 to 1997
• Michael Savage
• Mike Smith – Former mayor of Colchester County, Nova Scotia
• Robert Stanfield – Canadian premier and opposition leader (1914–2003)
• Charles Tupper – Father of Confederation, Prime Minister of Canada in 1896
• Richard John Uniacke – Canadian politician (1753–1830)
• Bill White – Canadian activist and first Black candidate for federal office
• William Young – Canadian politician (1799–1887)
• Lenore Zann – Canadian actress and politician

• Henry Alline – American–Canadian minister, evangelist, and writer
• Moses E. Kiley – American Catholic prelate (1876–1953)
• Greg MacLeod – Canadian priest and educator (1935–2017)

• Robert Ackman – Canadian chemist and professor
• Karen Beauchemin – Canadian agricultural scientist
• Willard Boyle – Canadian physicist (1924–2011)
• Allen C. Eaves – Canadian scientist
• Abraham Pineo Gesner – Inventor of kerosene (1797–1864)
• Naomi Ginsberg – American physicist, chemist and engineer
• Dana G. Goski – Material scientist
• Donald O. Hebb – Canadian neuropsychologist (1904–1985)
• Charlotte Keen – Canadian geologist
• William Li – Canadian biological oceanographer (born 1952)
• Alan Longhurst – British-born Canadian oceanographer (1925–2023)
• Kinnon MacKinnon – Canadian researcher (born 1985)
• Glenda MacQueen – Canadian medical researcher (1965–2020)
• Arthur B. McDonald – Canadian astrophysicist
• Thomas Mason – Canadian-American physicist (born 1964)
• Simon Newcomb – Canadian-American polymath (1835–1909)
• Elizabeth Patton – Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, professor of chemical genetics
• Keith R. Porter – Canadian-American cell biologist (1912–1997)

• Danny Gallivan – Canadian sportscaster (1917–1993)
• Paul Hollingsworth – Canadian sports reporter and author

• Vince Horsman – Canadian baseball player
• Fred Lake – Canadian baseball player (1866–1931)

• Richard Dalton – Canadian sprint canoeist
• Stephen Giles – Canadian sprint canoeist
• Michael Scarola – Canadian canoeist

• Jillian D'Alessio – Canadian sprint kayaker
• Karen Furneaux – Canadian sprint kayaker
• Sue Holloway – Canadian retired cross-country skier and sprint canoeist
• Anne Dodge – Canadian sprint kayaker
• Michelle Russell – Canadian sprint kayaker

• Angus MacAskill – Strongman champion (1825–1863)

• Chris Clarke – Canadian boxer (born 1956)
• Buddy Daye – Canadian boxer (1928–1995)
• George Dixon – Canadian boxer (1870–1908)
• Ray Downey – Canadian boxer (born 1968)
• Bryan Gibson – Canadian boxer
• Kirk Johnson – Canadian boxer (born 1972)
• Sam Langford – Canadian boxer (1886–1956)
• Carroll Morgan – Canadian boxer (1947–2018)
• Marty O'Donnell – Canadian boxer
• Randall Thompson – Canadian boxer

• Shawn Adams – Canadian curler
• Mark Dacey – Canadian curler
• Andrew Gibson – Canadian curler
• Rob Harris – Canadian curler
• Bruce Lohnes – Canadian curler

• Mary-Anne Arsenault – Canadian curler (born 1968)
• Jill Brothers – Canadian curler
• Nancy Delahunt – Canadian curler
• Meredith Harrison – Canadian curler
• Colleen Jones – Canadian curler and television personality
• Kim Kelly – Canadian curler

• Bill O'Donnell – Canadian harness race driver

• Ian Millar – Canadian equestrian

• Buck MacDonald – Canadian gridiron football player (1894–1985)
• Eddie Murray – Canadian football player (born 1956)
• Tyrone Williams – Canadian gridiron football player (born 1970)

• Tyrone Williams – Canadian gridiron football player (born 1970)

• Morgan Williams – Canadian rugby union player (born 1976)

• Stephen Hart – Trinidad and Tobago footballer and manager
• Ante Jazić – Canadian soccer player
• Jacob Shaffelburg – Canadian soccer player

• Ellie Black – Canadian artistic gymnast (born 1995)

• Frederick E. Betts – Canadian ice hockey administrator and businessman (1870–1942)
• Hanson Dowell – Canadian ice hockey administrator and politician (1906–2000)

• Paul Andrea – Canadian former ice hockey right winger
• Drake Batherson – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1998)
• Dennis Bonvie – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1973)
• Eric Boulton – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1976)
• David Brine – Canadian-born Croatian ice hockey player
• John Brophy – Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• Sidney Crosby – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1987)
• Mal Davis – Canadian ice hockey player
• Ryan Flinn – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1980)
• Danny Gallivan – Canadian sportscaster (1917–1993)
• Flash Hollett – Canadian ice hockey player (1911-1999)
• Don Koharski – Canadian-American professional ice hockey referee
• Craig MacDonald – Canadian ice hockey player
• Lowell MacDonald – Canadian ice hockey player
• Parker MacDonald – Canadian ice hockey player (1933–2017)
• Al MacInnis – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1963)
• Nathan MacKinnon – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1995)
• Cail MacLean – Canadian lice hockey player and coach
• Paul MacLean – French-born Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• Al MacNeil – Canadian ice hockey player and coach (1935–2025)
• Brad Marchand – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1988)
• Mike McPhee – Canadian ice hockey player
• Dean Melanson – Canadian ice hockey player
• Glen Murray – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1972)
• Pokey Reddick – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1964)
• Bill Riley – Canadian ice hockey player
• Jody Shelley – Canadian ice hockey player
• James Sheppard – Canadian ice hockey player
• Zach Sill – Canadian ice hockey player
• Jon Sim – Canadian ice hockey player
• Bobby Smith – Canadian ice hockey player, executive (b. 1958)
• Colin White – Canadian ice hockey player
• Matthew Highmore – Canadian ice hockey player
• Ryan Graves – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1995)

• Jill Saulnier – Canadian ice hockey player
• Blayre Turnbull – Canadian ice hockey player (born 1993)
• Carly Jackson – Canadian ice hockey goaltender

• Alex J. Walling – Canadian sportscaster (1946–2023)

• Howard Blackburn – Canadian-American fisherman
• Joshua Slocum – 19th-century Canadian-American seaman; first to circumnavigate the world solo
• Angus Walters – Canadian sailor and first captain of Bluenose

• Sue Holloway – Canadian retired cross-country skier and sprint canoeist

• Nancy Garapick – Canadian swimmer (born 1961)
• Sandy Goss – Canadian swimmer (born 1968)

• Duncan Gillis – Canadian athlete (1883–1963)
• Aileen Meagher – Canadian athlete (1910–1987)

• Rocky Johnson – Canadian professional wrestler (1944–2020)
• Great Antonio – Croatian-Canadian strongman, photomontage artist and wrestler

• Jackie Barrett – Canadian powerlifter

• Anna Leonowens – British educator (1831–1915)
• Edith Archibald – Canadian suffragist and writer (1854–1936)
• Eliza Ritchie – Canadian suffragist (1856–1933)
• Laura Borden – Canadian politician (1861–1940)

• John Boileau – British baronet and archaeologist (1794–1869)
• William Coates Borrett – Nova Scotia radio pioneer and author
• Harry Bruce – Canadian writer and journalist
• Ernest Buckler – Canadian writer (1908–1984)
• Lesley Choyce – Canadian writer and publisher
• George Elliott Clarke – Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic (born 1960)
• Darren Greer – Canadian novelist (born 1968)
• Thomas Chandler Haliburton – Canadian politician
• Wendy Lill – Canadian politician
• Hugh MacLennan – Canadian writer (1907–1990)
• Alistair MacLeod – Canadian writer and academic (1936–2014)
• Helen McCully – Canadian writer (1902–1977)
• Leo McKay Jr. – Canadian writer
• Maria Morris Miller – Canadian artist (1813–1875)
• Thomas Head Raddall – Canadian writer
• Spider Robinson – Canadian science fiction author (born 1948)
• Margaret Marshall Saunders – Canadian author (1861–1947)
• John Stiles – Canadian writer
• Michael Ernest Sweet – Canadian photographer, writer, and educator
• Budge Wilson – Canadian writer (1927–2021)

• Black Nova Scotians
• List of people from Cape Breton
• List of people from the Halifax Regional Municipality
• List of lieutenant governors of Nova Scotia
• List of people from Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia