A gentle reminder that your favourite American artists are probably Canadian
“Canada is the essence of not being. Not English, not American, it is the mathematics of not being” – Mike Myers
As an American, I do not spend a significant amount of time thinking about Canada unless my government is launching unsolicited attacks on it or Katy Perry is spooning Justin Trudeau at Coachella. I do, however, spend a lot of time thinking about the people of Canada, whether I know it or not.
A couple of months ago, I was falling under the spell of the Apple TV series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, utterly mesmerised by its star, Tatiana Maslany. Like any self-respecting child of the digital age, I Googled her in between episodes and discovered that she is Canadian.
Despite having adored her in Orphan Black more than a decade ago, her Canadianness had never crossed my desk. A similar thing happened last week, when I listened to an interview with Seth Rogen and remembered that he, too, is a neighbour from the north. The truth is that the entertainment industry in America is full of Canadians, and most of them are the best at what they do.
What unites the quotes from Mike Myers and Dan Aykroyd is the oft-trotted-out idea that Canadians are a modest people who are often overshadowed by their American and British counterparts. Robin Williams once described Canada as “a really nice apartment over a meth lab”, and it’s hard to argue with his logic.
In Hollywood and the broader entertainment world, however, Canadians are anything but the politely benign neighbours who put up with our shit. From controversial auteurs to pioneering comedians, they are wildly talented and consequential, so much so that we Americans – arrogant as we are – blithely assume that they must be one of us.
From the very beginning, Hollywood has been indebted to Canada. In fact, the very first movie star hailed from Toronto. Mary Pickford took the nascent film industry by storm in the 1910s and became not just the most famous screen actor of her era but also a pioneering business mogul while she was at it. Behind the camera, Mack Sennett was equally transformative. The Québécois entertainer became the face of slapstick comedy in the 1910s and went on to introduce audiences to Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Carole Lombard, and Bing Crosby.
Skipping ahead a few decades, Canada continued exporting industry-shifting directors. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, it was Norman Jewison, a director who brought a social and political conscience to Hollywood with movies like In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof, and A Soldier’s Story.
Then, there’s James Cameron. His movies have earned over $10billion worldwide. Titanic realigned the teen experience for several generations of viewers, and Avatar is, well, a thing that some people really like. Cameron is known for being an exacting and occasionally difficult collaborator, but that’s probably just par for the course when you’re one of the most forward-thinking directors of all time.
“I’m sorry I live in the greatest country in the world. I’m sorry! I’m sorry, but Canadians apologise so much because we know we’re the greatest. Sorry!”
Dan Aykroyd
David Cronenberg is a forward-thinker of a different stripe. If you’ve ever seen this man interviewed, you may be shocked to learn that the guy who created the car-fucking, wound-fetishising Crash is a soft-spoken, impeccably-dressed white-haired gentleman. The pioneer of body horror, who gave us the nightmare masterpieces The Fly and Videodrome, is the best kind of Canadian stereotype on a personal level, but his movies are as disturbing and bizarre as they are tender and profound.
In the world of comedy, Canada has been truly generous. Martin Short, Eugene Levy, the improv deity that was Catherine O’Hara – the list goes on. At the risk of just listing Canadians at this point, let me simply say that whatever you’re imagining in terms of Canadian domination of Hollywood – double it. Keanu Reeves is Canadian, my friends. What more do you need to know?
Ultimately, this is a story about the merits of Google. The next time you see an American entertainer that you like, just check in. They’re probably Canadian. This doesn’t even include musicians, but since we’re here, let me list three people: Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young (we’ll ignore Drake and Nickelback, obviously). Perhaps you’ll think that I’m being grossly America-centric with all of this.
To be surprised at the sheer breadth and depth of Canada’s talent is to admit that you didn’t expect much from them in the first place. But their population is a little over 41 million. The US population is nearing 343m. Americans might make a song and dance about our greatest artists, but the Canadians are punching well above their weight.
So the next time you’re watching Killing Eve or Barbie or getting misty-eyed at the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings or whatever, do a quick internet search of the talent involved. There’s a Canadian lurking there somewhere.
