Guillaume Côté
Photo by Christopher Wahl
Canadians Changing the World
The ones to watch
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published
Last updated
Some of them have already dazzled. Others are just beginning. But they've all stirred up expectations of much more to come: Here are six Canadians who could change the world this year and beyond.
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Guillaume Côté, 29
Danseur noble (i.e., ballet prince)
Guillaume Côté — Photo by Christopher Wahl
Grand jeté: A tall man who can partner well is a precious commodity in ballet. Mr. Côté jets around the world squiring ballerinas in prestigious companies such as the Bolshoi, Royal, American Ballet Theatre and Berlin's Staatsoper.
Foundations: Before being snapped up by Canada's National Ballet School, he was a hockey player/music fanatic doing ballet on the side in Lac-Saint-Jean, Que. He joined the National Ballet in 1999, was promoted to principal dancer in 2004 and in 2010 became guest artist-in-residence.
His 2011 moment: Mr. Côté will recreate his role as Gene Kelly in Derek Deane's popular production of Strictly Gershwin for the English National Ballet, June 9 to 19 at London's Royal Albert Hall. When the ballet debuted in 2008, it was a sold-out, runaway hit. His 2011 calendar also includes China, Stuttgart Ballet, Teatro alla Scala and Hamburg.
– Paula Citron
For more on Guillaume Cote:
Guillaume Côté — Photo by Christopher Wahl
For more on Guillaume Cote:
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Sarah Polley, 31
Actress, writer, director
Actress Sarah Polley whose film Mr Nobody is premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival is photographed at the Hotel Intercontinental in Toronto, Ont. Sept. 17/2009— Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
In the limelight: Directing the upcoming Take This Waltz could represent a big step into the global pop-cult mainstream. The bittersweet comedy stars Michelle Williams as the wife of a cookbook writer (fellow Canadian Seth Rogen) who falls for a neighbour (Luke Kirby) one hot Toronto summer. Sharp-tongued comic Sarah Silverman plays her sister.
Previous takes: A child star in TV's Road to Avonlea, Ms. Polley emerged in her late teens as an acclaimed actress after Atom Egoyan's 1997 film The Sweet Hereafter. Less than a decade later, she had her own directorial triumph with the emotionally powerful Away from Her, adapted from an Alice Munro story. It earned two Oscar nominations.
Her 2011 moment After speculation Take This Waltz would open at the Sundance festival this month, it is now listed for fall, which suggests red-carpet treatment in Toronto in September.
– Liam Lacey
For more on Sarah Polley:
Sarah Polley and Nelly Furtado among Walk of Fame inductees
Sarah Polley plays against type, as always
Sarah Polley pulls name off heart film
Sarah Polley's new work gets Oscar debut
In pictures:
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Ray Muzyka, 42
Video-game visionary
Screenshot from the game Dragon Age II
Game controller Dr. Muzyka has helped to guide the creation of half a dozen of the most beloved role-playing games ever made, including Dragon Age: Origins, the Mass Effect series and Baldur's Gate.
Doctor who? Originally trained in medicine, Dr. Muzyka founded Edmonton-based BioWare Corp. in 1995 with a pair of fellow doctors. The studio was eventually bought by Electronic Arts in 2007, but he remained CEO of BioWare while becoming the publishing giant's senior vice-president.
His 2011 moment On Dec. 17 it was announced he would be inducted to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in February alongside his longtime working partner Greg Zeschuk. Toward year's end his studio will release three of the year's most highly anticipated games: Dragon Age II, Mass Effect 3 and the ambitious multiplayer online game Star Wars: The Old Republic.
– Chad Sapieha
For more on Ray Muzyka:
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Marla Rubin, 46
Theatrical producer
Montreal native Marla Rubin poses in front of the promotional poster of the play Festen. Rubin is producing the play, performing in London, England at the Almeida Theatre in Islington.
Curtain-raiser: Famously broke into London theatre in 2004 by turning the Danish art film The Celebration into a West End hit that later leapt to Broadway.
Backstage pass: The Montrealer studied psychology at Oberlin and Columbia, arriving in London in 1998 after a decade in TV and film in Los Angeles.
Her 2011 moment: She returns to Broadway with a truly stellar cast for a play first staged above a tiny London pub. Rehearsals begin in August for The Mountaintop, starring Samuel L. Jackson as Martin Luther King Jr. and Halle Berry as Camae, a hotel maid who befriends him on the last night of his life. “It's taken us a while to get there because those two are such busy bees,” says Ms. Rubin, who was instrumental in transferring the London version to a larger theatre, where it won Best New Play. It seems likely not to repeat the Broadway fate of Festen, which closed in mere weeks.
-Elizabeth Renzetti
For more on Marla Rubin:
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Lou Naumovski, 54
Director general and vice-president, Kinross Gold Corp., Russia
People walk along Red Square, with St. Basil's Cathedral seen through heavy smog caused by peat fires in out-of-city forests, in Moscow, July 26, 2010. Muscovites struggled to breathe on Monday and Red Square was blanketed in smoke as a record-setting heatwave that that has already ruined crops caused fires that set the area around the capital ablaze. — Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
Golden frontier: Managing operations for Kinross Gold's billion-dollar investment may make Mr. Naumovski the most important Canadian businessman in Russia, where he's spent almost three decades.
Boomerang baby: Growing up in Toronto as the child of Macedonian immigrants sparked a passion for Eastern European languages and culture. He first went to the former Soviet Union in 1982 as a member of Canada's foreign service, has worked with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and was a senior vice-president with VISA International.
His 2011 moment: Kinross is the only Canadian member of the powerful investment council headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Mr. Naumovski says they'll plan regulatory changes to make Russia more attractive to investors – which just may benefit Kinross in the process.
– Kim Palchikoff
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Hennie J.J. van Vuuren, 63
Wine Research Centre director, University of British Columbia
Miracle cure: Does wine give you a headache? Compounds such as histamines that form during fermentation – not the tannins – hit 30 per cent of drinkers that way. Dr. van Vuuren created a yeast that doesn't make those compounds, now used in some U.S., Canadian and Moldovan wineries.
Finely aged: A molecular biologist originally from South Africa, Dr. van Vuuren specializes in yeast and has a PhD in brewing beer. He has led the wine-research centre since it opened 12 years ago. He's also one of the suffering 30 per cent – but all should benefit when another of his yeasts, reducing a carcinogen in alcoholic beverages, hits the market.
His 2011 moment: Next, a yeast to reduce alcohol in wine – levels climb too high in regions where grapes need to spend longer on the vine. All to help you drink more wine that tastes better.
– Jessica Leeder
