This is a list of people who were born in the communities making up the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia or spent a significant part of their lives there.
Politicians Sir Frederick Borden (1847–1917), Minister of Militia and Defence (Canada) (1896-1911) Sir Robert Borden (1854–1937), Prime Minister of Canada (1911-20) John Buchanan PC, QC (1931–2019), lawyer, 20th Premier of Nova Scotia 1978–1990, member of the Senate of Canada 1990–2006 Walter Fitzgerald (1936–2014), Mayor of Halifax, 1971–1974, 1994–1996 John Godfrey (1942–2023), Member of Parliament (1993–2008), President of University of King's College (1977–1987), Financial Post editor (1987–1991) Joseph Howe (1804–1873), press freedom advocate and activist, journalist, politician and public servant Mary Theresa King-Myers, first female municipal councillor in rural Canada Megan Leslie (born 1973), former Member of Parliament and Deputy Leader of the federal New Democratic Party (2012–2015) Angus L. MacDonald, 12th and 14th Premier of Nova Scotia 1933–1940, 1945–1954 and federal Minister of National Defence for Naval Services, 1940–1945 Alexa McDonough (1944–2022), former Member of Parliament and Leader of the provincial (1980-1994) and federal New Democratic Party (1995–2003) Gerald Regan, PC, QC (1928–2019), 19th Premier of Nova Scotia 1970–1978, federal cabinet minister 1980–1984 Jo-Ann Roberts (born 1956), interim leader, Green Party of Canada, 2019-2020 Sir John Sparrow David Thompson (1845–1894), Prime Minister of Canada (1892–94) Sir Charles Tupper (1821–1915), Prime Minister of Canada (1896) Ronald Wallace (1916–2008), Mayor of Halifax, 1970–1978
Civil rights leaders Yvonne Atwell (born 1943), MLA, community leader Viola Desmond (1914–1965), Afro-Nova Scotian civil and women's rights activist and businesswoman James Robinson Johnston (1876–1915), lawyer and community leader Rocky Jones (1941–2013), lawyer, civil rights leader William Pearly Oliver (1912–1989), civil rights leader Richard Preston (1791–1861), religious leader, abolitionist
Business leaders David Bentley (businessman), U.K.-born publisher, editor, founder of The Daily News and Frank magazine William "Bill" Black, (born 1950), Canadian business leader Enos Collins (1774–1871), banker Samuel Cunard (1787–1865), steamship line founder William Dennis (1922–2014), CEO of Halifax Herald, Red Cross Humanitarian award Michael Donovan (born 1953), former CEO and current chairman of DHX Media; recipient of an Academy Award for Best Documentary Charles V. Keating, CM (1933–2005), cable czar Robert P. Kelly, former CEO of BNY Mellon Pete Luckett (born 1953), U.K.-born entrepreneur, vintner, specialty grocer, TV personality Bill Lynch (1903–1972), businessman, philanthropist, carnival showman (Bill Lynch Show) Alexander Keith (1795–1873), brewmaster; former mayor of the city of Halifax; first Grand Master Mason for Nova Scotia Charles Peter McColough (1922–2006), former chairman and CEO of the Xerox Corporation Sidney Culverwell Oland (1886–1977), Oland brewery owner, philanthropist Arnie Patterson (1928–2011), radio czar, brewery manager, former press secretary to Pierre Trudeau John Risley (born c. 1948), founder of Clearwater Fine Foods and Ocean Nutrition Canada John Fitzwilliam Stairs (1848–1904), entrepreneur and statesman William Machin Stairs (1789–1865), merchant, banker, and statesman
Military and naval figures
17th–18th centuries Charles Lawrence, Father Le Loutre's War Father Pierre Maillard, Father Le Loutre's War Captain Charles Morris, King George's War
19th century John Charles Beckwith, Battle of Waterloo Edward Belcher was on Franklin's lost expedition Lieutenant-Colonel James J. Bremner, North-West Rebellion Jane Cecilia Deeble military nurse, was born here in 1827 and was awarded the 2nd Royal Red Cross Sir John Eardley Inglis, Indian Mutiny Clonard Keating, Lieutenant, Nigeria John Wimburn Laurie, Crimean War John Houlton Marshall, Battle of Trafalgar, Province House (Nova Scotia) Captain William B.C.A. Parker, Crimean War Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, War of 1812 William Grant Stairs, Captain, the Stairs Expedition to Katanga Provo Wallis, War of 1812 Major Augustus F. Welsford, Crimean War George Augustus Westphal, Battle of Trafalgar, Admiralty Garden, Stadacona, CFB Halifax, Nova Scotia Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Kars by William Gush, Crimean War John Taylor Wood, American Civil War
20th century Philip Bent, Halifax-born recipient of the Victoria Cross Vice Admiral Harry DeWolf, (1903-2000), Commander of , WWII Battle of the Atlantic; Chief of the Naval Staff (1956–60) Francis Joseph Fitzgerald, Second Boer War, Fitzgerald Bridge in Halifax Public Gardens Harold Taylor Wood Grant, commanded HMS Enterprise (D52) in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay Mona Louise Parsons, World War II Guy Carleton Jones, 4th Canadian Surgeon General
Diplomats Audri Mukhopadhyay (born 1974), former Canadian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Scientists Oswald Avery (1877–1955), physician and medical researcher who proved that DNA is the carrier of genetic information Walter A. Bell (1889–1969), geologist and paleontologist Elisabeth Mann Borgese (1918–2002), German-Canadian oceanographer, environmentalist, maritime lawyer, daughter of Thomas Mann Margaret Sibella Brown (1866-1961), bryologist Erik Demaine (born 1981), computer scientist and professor Danielle Fong (born 1987), co-founder and Chief Scientist of LightSail Energy Abraham Pineo Gesner (1797–1864), physician and geologist who invented kerosene Charles Brenton Huggins (1901–1997), Canadian-American physician and researcher, Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine "for his discoveries concerning hormonal treatment of prostatic cancer" E. Elizabeth Patton, FRSE, professor of chemical genetics, Personal Chair in Melanoma Genetics and Drug Discovery, MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh Donald O. Hebb (1904–1985), professor of psychology who is best known for contributing Hebbian theory to the field of neuroscience, which he introduced in his classic 1949 work Organization of Behavior
Authors Novelists or short story authors Lisa Alward Kris Bertin, 2017 Danuta Gleed Award-winning author (Bad Things Happen) Alexander MacLeod (born 1972), short story writer (Light Lifting) and academic Donna Morrissey (born 1956), novelist (Kit's Law; What They Wanted) (Born in Beaches, Newfoundland and Labrador) Sarah Mian, novelist (When the Saints) Hugh MacLennan, CC, CQ (1907–1990), 5-time Governor General's Award winner (Barometer Rising, Two Solitudes, The Watch That Ends the Night) Georgie A. Hulse McLeod (1827–1890), author, Ivy Leaves from the Old Homestead Alex Pugsley (born 1963), novelist (Kay Darling, Aubrey McKee), screenwriter/director (Dirty Singles), tv writer Thomas Head Raddall (1903–1994), novelist (Roger Sudden; Halifax, Warden of the North) Russell Smith (born 1963), novelist (How Insensitive, Muriella Pent), columnist
Playwrights Catherine Banks, 2-time Governor General's Award-winning playwright (Bone Cage; It Is Solved By Walking) George Boyd (playwright) (1952–2020) (Shine Boy; Gideon's Blues) Brendan Gall (born 1978) (Alias Godot; Head-Smashed-In, Buffalo Jump) Hannah Moscovitch (born 1978) Ottawa-born Governor General's Award-winning playwright (East of Berlin, This is War, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes) Wendy Lill (born 1950), playwright, M.P. (Corker, The Fighting Days, The Glace Bay Miners' Museum) Alfred Silver, Prairie-born Halifax playwright, novelist (Göttingen, Acadia)
Poets Bill Bissett (born 1939), poet (Th gossamer bed pan, Th Wind Up Tongue, sublingual) Charles Tory Bruce (1906–1971), Governor General's Award-winning poet, novelist, journalist (The Mulgrave Road, The Channel Shore) Lesley Choyce (born 1951), U.S.-born poet (Revenge of the Optimist), novelist, academic, publisher (Pottersfield Portfolio/Press) George Elliott Clarke (born 1960), Governor General's Award-winning poet, playwright, novelist, academic (Execution Poems, Illicit Sonnets) Afua Cooper (born 1957), Jamaican-Canadian poet and academic (Breaking Chains, Copper Woman, Memories Have Tongue) Don Domanski (1950–2020), Governor General's Award-winner (All of Our Wonder Unavenged, The Cape Breton Book of the Dead, Stations of The Left Hand) Susan Goyette (born 1964), poet (The True Names of Birds, Lures, The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl) Amelia Clotilda Jennings (died 1895), poet, novelist (Linden Rhymes, The White Rose in Acadia) El Jones, poet, academic, activist (Live from the Afrikan Resistance!) Kenneth Leslie (1892–1974), Governor General's Award-winner (O'Malley to the Reds, By Stubborn Stars), progressive activist and editor (The Protestant Digest) Annick MacAskill, Governor General's Award-winner (Shadow Blight) Lorri Neilsen Glenn, poet, essayist, academic (Lost Gospels, Threading Light, Salt Lines, Saved String) The Song Fishermen (1928–1930), poetry collective Joe Wallace (1890–1975), poet, journalist, labour activist, political prisoner (All My Brothers, A Radiant Sphere, Night is Ended) Tanya Davis, spoken word poet and singer
Critics, scholars, other John Boileau (born 1794), author of historical non-fiction (Half-Hearted Enemies: Nova Scotia, New England and the War of 1812, Valiant Hearts: Atlantic Canada and the Victoria Cross, Halifax and the Royal Canadian Navy, Halifax and Titanic, 6-12-17: The Halifax Explosion) Harry Flemming (1933-2008), journalist, columnist, political pundit George Grant (philosopher) (1918–1988), philosopher, academic (Lament for a Nation, Technology and Empire) Stephen Kimber (born 1949), journalist, editor, broadcaster, professor (Sailors, Slackers and Blind Pigs: Halifax at War) Janet Kitz, ONS, MSM, (1930–2019), author, educator, historian (Shattered City) Steven Laffoley (born 1965), creative non-fiction and crime writer (Halifax Nocturne) Thomas McCulloch (1776–1843), Scottish-born clergyman, naturalist, humourist, author (The Stepsure Letters) Walter D. O'Hearn (1910–1969), newspaper journalist, managing editor, columnist, book reviewer (The New York Times), President of the United Nations Correspondents Association Malcolm Ross (literary critic) (1911–2002), critic (Poetry & Dogma), editor (McClelland and Stewart's New Canadian Library), professor, NFB film executive
Actors, directors, comedians Actors Walter Borden (born 1942), Shakespearian stage, TV and film actor (King Lear, Tightrope Time, Gerontophilia) Henry Beckman (1921–2008), stage, film, and television actor (McHale's Navy, Why Rock the Boat?) Chuck Campbell (born 1969), actor (Stargate Atlantis) Josephine Crowell (1859–1932), actor (The Birth of a Nation, Hot Water) John Dunsworth (1946–2017), actor (Trailer Park Boys) Peter Flemming (born 1967), actor (Stargate Atlantis) Eli Goree (born 1994), actor, (The 100, Ballers, One Night in Miami...) Harry Hayden (1882–1955), actor (Two Against the World, Hail the Conquering Hero) Tamara Hickey, actress (The Associates, Blue Murder) Leslie Hope (born 1965), actress (Talk Radio; Paris, France; 24) Michael Jackson (born 1970), actor (Trailer Park Boys), musician (a.k.a. Doug Mason) Ruby Keeler (1909–1993), actress, dancer (42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames) Steve Lund (born 1989), actor David Manners (1900–1998), actor (Kismet, Browning's Dracula, Freund's The Mummy, The Moonstone) Forbes March (born 1973), actor born in UK but raised in Halifax (All My Children, As the World Turns, One Life to Live) Peter North (born 1957), adult film actor, director, producer (North Poles) Sonja O'Hara (born 1987), actress, director (Root Letter) Craig Olejnik (born 1979), actor, (Margaret's Museum, The Listener) Ty Olsson (born 1974), actor (Kingdom Hospital) Elliot Page (born 1987), Academy Award-nominated actor (Juno, Inception, To Rome with Love, Into the Forest)