Mike Myers - Canada

I M AN ACTOR, A WRITER , a producer, a director, a husband and a father, but no description of me is complete without saying that Im a Canadian.

Legend has it that the late, great Canadian comedian John Candy was at Pearson Airport in Toronto one day when a baggage handler came up to him and said, Wow, John Candy. Let me ask you something, Johnwhy is it that when all you Canadian comedians make it big, you move down to the States?

John Candy replied, Actually, I live north of Toronto.

And the baggage handler said, Aw, thats too bad. I thought you made it big, eh?

Thats what it is to be a famous Canadian, because Canadians arent used to fame. Canada is not a famous country. The world knows nothing about us. Unlike America and Britain, our culture is not a culture for export.

John Candy was the first comedic actor in Hollywood history to be paid $1 million a movie. He was also known to be the most approachable person in the history of Hollywood. Supposedly, he was so approachable that in order to keep his films on schedule, the producers had to call him to the set half an hour earlier than they actually needed him, because he would stop and talk to every person that came up to him. He was genuinely interested in all who spoke to him because he didnt think he was better than anybody. He was a sweetheart.

In 1992, I had the great honour of meeting John Candy at Wayne Gretzkys restaurant, aptly named Wayne Gretzkys Toronto. I saw him from across the restaurant, but I was too starstruck to go over and say hello. He spotted me and came to my table (which blew my mind), and congratulated me on Waynes World, which had just come out. He and Gretzky had just bought the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. He was so generous of time, spirit, and encouragement. I had loved him as a performer, and now I loved him as a person. He wasCanadian: self-deprecating, unassuming, polite, considerate. He left this parting advice: Never buy a sports team.

He was one of the greatest comedic actors ever, but he had no use for fame. Canadians are as capable of being starstruck as people from any other nation. But there is something in our character that distrusts fame. Marshall McLuhan, the famous Canadian intellectual who pioneered the field of media study, said of our homeland, [Canadians are] the people who learned to live without the bold accents of the natural ego-trippers of other lands.

Drake. Im so proud that hes Canadian. And Im jealous of the brilliant way he gave T.O. a shout-out on his album cover by putting himself on the CN Tower. Well played, Drake, well played.