Notable Residents
Juno Award-winning rock musician Matthew Good is from Coquitlam. He graduated from Centennial School in 1989, and became lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s. Centennial School was featured in the "Alert Status Red" video, and its cheerleading squad recorded for "Giant". The Matthew Good Band was dissolved in 2002, and Good has since pursued a solo career and established himself as a political activist, blogger, and author of a book of previously published manifestos.
Former FA Premier League goalkeeper Craig Forrest is from Coquitlam and attended Centennial School. Forrest appeared in 263 games for Ipswich Town, 30 games for West Ham United, and 3 games for Chelsea. Forrest also earned 56 caps for the Canadian national soccer team, the most of any goalkeeper in team history, and earned the most clean sheets in the country's history. Forrest was elected to Canada’s Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007. Current Canadian national soccer team midfielder Jeff Clarke and Canadian women's national soccer player Brittany Timko also both attended Centennial School.
Former National Basketball Association player Lars Hansen was raised in Coquitlam and played his high school basketball at Centennial School. He was a member of the Seattle SuperSonics 1979 NBA Championship team, and was elected to the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Model and host of MTV Select and G4techTV Amanda MacKay also attended Centennial School where she started her journalism career writing for the school's student newspaper.
American political analyst and former Fox News co-host, Rachel Marsden, was raised in Northeast Coquitlam's Burke Mountain area.
Former BC Lions placekicker Lui Passaglia has resided in Coquitlam for over 20 years. Passaglia is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and his #5 jersey is one of eight numbers retired by the Lions. Passaglia was voted #30 of the CFL's Top 50 players of the modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.
Playboy Playmate and actress Dorothy Stratten was raised in Coquitlam and attended Centennial High School. Stratten was Playmate of the Year for 1980. She appeared in several movies, including Peter Bogdanovich's They All Laughed, before she was murdered by her estranged husband. Stratten was portrayed twice in biographies of her life, by Jamie Lee Curtis in Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story, and by Mariel Hemingway in Star 80.
Spoken word poet Chris Tse was raised in Coquitlam though he is based in Ottawa. He was captain of the Ottawa spoken word team that won the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word championships and also placed second overall in the Poetry Slam World Cup in Paris, France.
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Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or residents:
“a notable prince that was called King John;
And he ruled England with main and with might,
For he did great wrong, and maintained little right.”
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 2–4)
“Most of the folktales dealing with the Indians are lurid and romantic. The story of the Indian lovers who were refused permission to wed and committed suicide is common to many places. Local residents point out cliffs where Indian maidens leaped to their death until it would seem that the first duty of all Indian girls was to jump off cliffs.”
—For the State of Iowa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)