Victoria

The Pacific Undersea Gardens is located at the Inner Harbour in the heart of downtown Victoria. The Gardens is owned and operated by the Oak Bay... Marine Group. The Pacific Undersea Gardens is a 150-foot vessel that was built on the waters of the Inner Harbour. People visiting the site have to walk down the stairs and descend to 15 feet beneath the ocean to look through the many viewing windows of the aquariums that surround the vessel and see the various marine life of coastal British Columbia, in their natural and protected environment. The Gardens also have a tidal pond full of Sea stars and Sea Anemones, which is intended to be a fun and educational experience where visitors are allowed to gently touch the animals. Located at the end of the 150-foot vessel of the Undersea Gardens is the Undersea Theatre. In the theatre, seating is provided where visitors can sit down and watch the show from the viewing windows of the aquarium. In the actual show, a guide will welcome you and narrate the show to explain the different wildlife in the aquarium.
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The Victoria Bug Zoo is a two-room minizoo that is located in downtown Victoria, just one block north from the Fairmont Empress Hotel. The Victoria... Bug Zoo is owned and operated by International Bug Zoos Incorporated. The Bug Zoo exhibits about 50 different species of insects, arachnids, and Myriapoda and is currently the largest tropical insect collection in North America and has Canada's largest ant farm that contains leaf-cutter ants. Visitors can chose to come in and tour around for themselves or can walk around with a tour guide and learn about the insect world. Furthermore, while with a tour guide, visitors can hold and handle different varieties of species like tarantulas, cockroaches, scorpions, walking sticks, millipedes, and praying mantis. Recently, the Bug Zoo opened the Party Room, where visitors can rent out the room for birthdays, business functions or any other special occasions.
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The Belfry Theatre is a theatre and associated theatre company in the Fernwood neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The theatre is,... in fact, a nineteenth-century church designed by Thomas Hooper. The Belfry’s history begins in 1974, when University of Victoria graduate student Blair Shakel began to use the unheated Springridge Chapel of the Emmanuel Baptist Church for performances. At the time, the building was shared with a youth hostel and dental clinic. In 1975, inspired by the model of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and supported by federal Local Initiative Program grants, Don Shipley took charge of the theatre and together with Michael Stephen, established the Springridge Cultural Centre. Pat Armstrong joined Shipley in 1976 as co-director of the Belfry Cultural Centre, which initially served as an “alternative” booking facility for touring performances by Tamahnous Theatre, The Mummers, Codco, Theatre Passe Muraille, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and the Kronos Quartet. By 1977, the Belfry was producing its own shows. The first of these was Puttin’ on the Ritz, a revue based on the songs of Irving Berlin.
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Atom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica . His most... critically acclaimed film is The Sweet Hereafter , and his biggest commercial success is Chloe . Egoyan has been nominated for two Academy Awards - The Sweet Hereafter for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He also won several awards at Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Genie Awards. His work often explores themes of alienation and isolation, featuring characters whose interactions are mediated through technology, bureaucracy or other power structures. Egoyan's films often follow non-linear plot-structures, in which events are placed out of sequence in order to elicit specific emotional reactions from the audience by withholding key information. In 2008 Egoyan received the Dan David Prize for "Creative Rendering of the Past". Egoyan was born Atom Yeghoyan in Cairo, Egypt, the son of Shushan and Joseph Yeghoyan, artists who operated a furniture store.
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Stephen John "Steve" Nash, OC, OBC is a South African-born Canadian professional basketball player who plays point guard for the Phoenix Suns of the... National Basketball Association . Nash enjoyed a successful high-school basketball career, and he was eventually given a scholarship by Santa Clara University. In his four seasons with the Broncos, the team made three NCAA Tournament appearances, and Nash was twice named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year. After graduating from Santa Clara as the team's all-time leader in assists, Nash entered the 1996 NBA Draft and was selected as the 15th pick by the Phoenix Suns. He made a minimal impact, and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1998. By his third season with the Mavericks, he was voted into his first NBA All-Star Game and had earned his first All-NBA selection. Together with Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley, Nash led the Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals the following season. However, he became a free agent after the 2003–04 season and returned to the Phoenix Suns.
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David Walter Foster, OC, OBC , is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, and arranger, noted for discovering singers... such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Charice Pempengco; and for producing some of the most successful artists in the world, such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Céline Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Toni Braxton, Madonna, Air Supply and Michael Jackson. Foster has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. David Foster is the current Chairman of Verve Music Group. Throughout his career, he has produced recordings for a wide range of musical artists, including Bryan Adams, Tamia, Christina Aguilera, The Bee Gees, Andrea Bocelli, Boz Scaggs, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Chicago, Destiny's Child, Neil Diamond, Céline Dion, Earth Wind and Fire, Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Beyonce Knowles, Kenny Loggins, Madonna, Olivia Newton-John, Nsync, All-4-One, Plus One, Charice Pempengco, Prince, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Rogers, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer, Shania Twain, Hall & Oates, Tim Feehan, The Tubes, and Jackie Evancho.
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Daryn Jones is a Canadian comedian and television personality. He began his career in stand-up comedy clubs at the age of 17, receiving formal... training in a private training school. He and fellow comedian Mista Mo co-wrote and co-starred on the sketch comedy television show Buzz on the Toronto Community Access Channel in the mid-1990s. The show was picked up by the Canada-wide cable channel Comedy Network in 2000. In 2004, Jones was hired for the Rick Mercer Report, where he was a writer and an on-air correspondent. Buzz ended its run the next year. In 1999, Jones co-hosted a morning show for contemporary hit radio station KISS 92 FM with Jay Michaels but left to focus on his television career after Buzz was picked up by The Comedy Network. Jones made multiple appearances on CTV's Open Mike with Mike Bullard. He hosted Laughing Matters and YTV's flagship weekday afternoon programming block The Zone and has written for Oro Magazine and the National Post. Jones was a featured performer at the 2000 Canadian Comedy Awards, and received the 2001 Gemini Award for Best Writing in a Comedy Series for Buzz.
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Meg Tilly is a Canadian-American actress, Broadway stage dancer, Academy Award nominee, and published novelist. She is the younger sister of actress... and poker player Jennifer Tilly. Tilly, the third of four children, was born Margaret Elizabeth Chan in Long Beach, California, the daughter of Patricia , a Canadian schoolteacher, and businessman Harry Chan. Tilly's father was Chinese American, and her mother was of Irish, Finnish, and First Nations descent. Following her parents' divorce when she was three, she was raised by her mother and stepfather, John Ward, on rural Texada Island in British Columbia. She graduated from Esquimalt High School in Victoria, British Columbia. She has a brother, Steve, and two sisters, Rebecca and Jennifer. As a teen, she was involved with the Connecticut Ballet Company, as well as the Throne Dance Theatre, and made her screen debut with Alan Parker's Fame in 1980. When a dance partner dropped her, causing a serious back injury, her dance career came to a shattering halt. She then became an actress.
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Jennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner.... She is the elder sister of actress Meg Tilly. Tilly was born Jennifer Elizabeth Chan in Harbor City, Los Angeles. She is the first child of Harry Chan, a used car salesman, and Patricia , a Canadian schoolteacher and former stage actress. Her father was Chinese American and her mother was of Irish, Finnish, and Native-American ancestry. Following her parents' divorce when she was five, she was raised by her mother and stepfather, John Ward, on rural Texada Island, British Columbia. Her mother divorced again when Tilly was 16, and moved to Victoria, where Tilly attended Belmont High School. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater from Stephens College in Missouri. Tilly had small roles in TV shows and movies beginning in 1983. She had a recurring guest role on Hill Street Blues as Gina Srignoli, a mobster's widow who becomes romantically involved with detective Henry Goldblume.
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David Walter Foster, OC, OBC , is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, and arranger, noted for discovering singers... such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Charice Pempengco; and for producing some of the most successful artists in the world, such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Céline Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Toni Braxton, Madonna, Air Supply and Michael Jackson. Foster has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. David Foster is the current Chairman of Verve Music Group. Throughout his career, he has produced recordings for a wide range of musical artists, including Bryan Adams, Tamia, Christina Aguilera, The Bee Gees, Andrea Bocelli, Boz Scaggs, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Chicago, Destiny's Child, Neil Diamond, Céline Dion, Earth Wind and Fire, Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Beyonce Knowles, Kenny Loggins, Madonna, Olivia Newton-John, Nsync, All-4-One, Plus One, Charice Pempengco, Prince, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Rogers, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer, Shania Twain, Hall & Oates, Tim Feehan, The Tubes, and Jackie Evancho.
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Cameron Bright is a Canadian actor. He has appeared in the films Godsend, Birth, Running Scared, Ultraviolet, X-Men: The Last Stand, Thank You for... Smoking and three installments of The Twilight Saga. Cameron Douglas Crigger Bright was born in Victoria, British Columbia; he was given his middle name, "Douglas", after his maternal grandfather. His first acting job was in a commercial for Telus, which was soon followed by a guest appearance on the television series, Higher Ground. He subsequently appeared in several minor roles in made-for-television films, and was credited as "Cameron Crigger" for his roles . After a supporting part in The Butterfly Effect, Bright's first major role was in Godsend, a horror film co-starring Robert De Niro; the film was released in April 2004 to mixed reviews. In his next film, Birth, he played a ten-year-old boy who claims to be the reincarnation of a woman's deceased husband. Two scenes within the movie sparked controversy and drew media attention to Bright.
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Nell Shipman was a Canadian actress, author and screenwriter, producer, director, and animal trainer. She was a Canadian pioneer in early Hollywood.... She is best known for her work in James Oliver Curwood stories and for portraying strong, adventurous women. In 1919, she and her producer husband, Ernest Shipman, made the most successful silent film in Canadian history, Back to God's Country. She was one of the first women to do a nude scene on screen when she did so in that movie. Shipman was born Helen Foster-Barham in Victoria, British Columbia. Her family moved to Seattle, Washington when Nell was 13 years old. Around the same time, Nell started stage acting and joined theatrical stock companies before working in film. When Nell was 18 years old, she met and married 39 years old theatrical entrepreneur, Ernest Shipman . After marrying, Ernest and Nell Shipman moved to Hollywood to start working in the film industry. During this time, Nell sold the rights of her book, Under the Crescent Moon to Universal Studios .
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Kristeen Von Hagen is a comedian and actor best known for her appearances on such Canadian television shows She's so Funny, The Dish Show, Single's... Court, Zero Avenue, The Green Room and Comedy Now!. She opened for the Australian genital origami troupe Puppetry of the Penis in 2001, and commented "I walk out, welcome people to the show, explain that I don't have a penis but I'm there to get them excited about the penises. I have way more penis jokes now than is really necessary" . Miss Von Hagen was named Best Female Stand-up of 2002 at the Canadian Comedy Awards. She appears in the NFB documentary on aspiring comics, The Next Big Thing.
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Deborah Kara Unger is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in the films Crash , The Game , The Hurricane , White Noise , Silent Hill and... 88 Minutes . She currently stars as Major Grace Pedersen in the ABC medical drama series Combat Hospital. Deborah Kara Unger was born in Victoria, British Columbia, to a nuclear disposal specialist mother and a gynaecologist father.
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Chad Faust is a Canadian actor, singer, film producer, film director and screenwriter, best known for his role as Kyle Baldwin in The 4400. Faust... starred in Bang Bang You're Dead and was also seen in All I Want. Among his other credits are multiple independent films, the CTV television series So? and guest spots on Heroes, Taken, Black Sash, and Smallville. Faust was later seen as Dean Withers in the feature film Saved!, starring with young stars like Macaulay Culkin and Mandy Moore. He also starred with Rosario Dawson in Descent. Faust has written, directed and produced six short films and one feature. We Ran Naked, a feature film about an author living in the shadow of his successful first novel, premiered in 1999 when Chad was just 19. His screenplay Izzy Underwood is in development. As a solo recording artist, Faust has released two CDs under the independent label Zotzman Music.
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