He Grew Up Near the Arctic
Nielsen may have been the golden boy of American comedy, but he wasn’t actually American. The actor was, in fact, born in Regina, Saskatchewan and later moved further up north to Canada’s Northwest Territories. The family lived in a small town called Fort Norman, which was just 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle. According to Nielsen, there were only 15 people living in the town, including him, his two brothers, and his parents.
Leslie Nielsen. Photo By Moviestore Collection/Shutterstock
Since the village was so isolated and inaccessible, essential supplies only reached the Nielsen family twice a month. But as Nielsen and his brothers began to grow up, his parents realized that the isolation was too much for the family, so they relocated the entire family to Edmonton so the kids could go to a better school.