Chinese Famous Chinese Americans

Asian Canadian Wikipedia

An Asian Canadian is a Canada|Canadian of Asian ancestry. Asian Canadians can either be born in Canada or be born overseas and later come to be citizens of Canada. They compose of about 10% of all Canadian citizens.

According to Statistics Canada (2001), large Asian Canadian groups are:

• Chinese Canadians (1,094,700): 8th largest of all Canadian ethnicities

• East Indian Canadians (713,330): 13th, including several nationalities of ancestry

• Philippines|Filipino Canadians (327,550): 19th

• Vietnamese Canadian (151,410): 28th

• Korean Canadian (101,715)

• Japanese Canadian (85,230)

• Pakistani Canadian (74,015)

The Chinese Canadians are the largest group in all provinces except Manitoba, where the Filipino Canadians are the largest.

Notable Asian Canadians include:

• Ken Adachi, Toronto Star writer

• Raymond Chan, Member of Parliament

• Wei Chen, television news anchor (CTV Television Network, Toronto One)

• Ben Chin, television news anchor (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Toronto One)

• Denise Chong, writer

• Kevin Chong, novelist

• Tommy Chong, actor(Cheech and Chong Up in Smoke)

• Olivia Chow, Toronto, Ontario|Toronto city councillor, and wife of New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton

• Wayson Choy, novelist

• Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada of Chinese ancestry

• Monika Deol, television presenter of Sikh ancestry

• Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Member of Parliament and cabinet minister of Indian ancestry

• Ujjal Dosanjh, former premier of British Columbia, of Indian ancestry

• Atom Egoyan, filmmaker of Armenian ancestry

• Hedy Fry, Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Member of Parliament

• Jian Ghomeshi, musician (Moxy Fr?vous) and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC television host

• Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal, Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative Members of Parliament, the first married couple to serve as MPs in the same session of Parliament

• Emm Gryner, singer-songwriter of mixed Philippines|Filipino ancestry

• Ian Hanomansing, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC journalist of Indian ancestry

• Rahim Jaffer, politician of Indian ancestry

• Paul Kariya, National Hockey League|NHL star of partial Japanese ancestry

• Arsin?e Khanjian, actress and wife of Atom Egoyan

• Gail Kim, WWE wrestler of Korean heritage

• Joy Kogawa, writer of Japanese ancestry

• Kristin Kreuk, actress born to a Chinese mother

• Jenny Kwan, British Columbia Legislative Assembly|MLA

• Larissa Lai, writer

• Evelyn Lau, poet and novelist

• Jeannie Lee, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC journalist

• Sook-Yin Lee, musician, television (MuchMusic) and radio (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC Radio One) personality

• Sophia Leung, Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Member of Parliament

• Shaun Majumder, comedian

• Gurbax Malhi, Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Member of Parliament

• Inky Mark, Conservative Party of Canada (current)|Conservative Member of Parliament

• Deepa Mehta, film director of Indian ancestry

• Roy Miki, poet of Japanese ancestry

• Bharati Mukherjee, novelist

• Sandra Oh, actor of Korean ancestry, who starred in the film version of The Autobiography of Evelyn Lau

• Natsuko Ohama, an actor of Japanese ancestry

• Ruth Ozeki, novelist

• Rey Pagtakhan, former Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Member of Parliament

• Russell Peters, comedian of Anglo-Indian ancestry

• Vivienne Poy, Canadian Senate|Senator

• Keanu Reeves, actor of partial Chinese and Hawaiian ancestry

• Kerri Sakamoto, novelist of Japanese ancestry

• Eric San, musician and turntablist who records as Kid Koala

• Shyam Selvadurai, novelist

• Tetsuro Shigematsu, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC radio host

• Ashwin Sood, drummer for (and husband of) Sarah McLachlan, of India|Indian descent

• Alfred Sung, fashion designer

• Hannah Sung, MuchMusic videographer

• David Suzuki, scientist and television personality of Japanese ancestry

• Siu Ta, actress (This is Wonderland)

• Harinder Takhar, Ontario Legislative Assembly|Member of Provincial Parliament, currently Minister of Transportation

• Jennifer Tilly and Meg Tilly, actresses of mixed Chinese ancestry

• David Usher, singer-songwriter of mixed Thailand|Thai ancestry

• M.G. Vassanji, novelist of India|Indian descent, although born in Kenya

• Fred Wah, poet and novelist

• Jan Wong, The Globe and Mail|Globe & Mail reporter

• Jean Yoon, poet and playwright

• For more Asian Canadians of Chinese ancestry, see Chinese Canadians.

In 2002, Asian Canadians were especially concerned for their security when several Asian women and girls were harassed, some seriously attacked or even killed. (See International student)

See also Demographics of Canada, Asian American

Last Modified:   2005-04-06