Whether or not his new movie, “She’s Out of My League,” is any good, this week’s Canadian of the Week honors go to Jay Baruchel.

The Ottawa native who grew up in Canada gets the chance to head up his own comedy after a few rounds of playing in the supporting cast in recent hits like “Knocked Up,” “Tropic Thunder” and “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” He starred in the short-lived Judd Apatow TV comedy “Undeclared.”

Baruchel is a proud Canadian who has a tattoo of a red maple leaf on his chest. It was featured in “Knocked Up,” in which he played the friend of a Vancouver native who was living in the U.S. illegally.

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The trailer (below) for “She’s Out of My League” looks like it follows the general recent rom-com trend. It has the look and feel of an Apatow film, but Apatow is nowhere to be found in the credits.

In the movie, Baruchel plays a shlubby airport security guy who finds a beautiful girl’s cell phone and she goes out with him to thank him. His friends can’t believe it and comedy ensues.

I’m reserving judgment until hearing more and seeing what the buzz is like, but it sounds like a fun weekend comedy.

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Check out the trailer and see what you think. And good luck, Jay!

After having hosted two Olympic Games (the Summer version in Montreal in 1976, and the Winter Games in Calgary in 1988), Canadians had enough. They set out to make their mark on their home soil when the Winter Games came to Vancouver. They took the surprising, unprescedented, and — some thought — unnecessarily obnoxious step of starting a movement to “Own the Podium.”

There was a bit of disappointment when women’s skiing sensation Jenn Heil came away with a silver in the earliest days of the Games, but she promised Canada’s long-awaited gold medal on home soil would come.

Boy, did it ever, eh?

Alexandre Bilodeau kicked things off with a gold in the men’s moguls, and it was a full-fleged gold rush after that. Not content with just the one gold on home soil, Canada’s Olympians came through with 14 of them, setting a record for the most gold medals in any Winter Olympic Games.

It was made that much sweeter on Sunday night, when the gold medal run was capped by Canada’s victory over the United States in men’s hockey, avenging a loss earlier in the tournament with an overtime goal from Sidney Crosby. The win became the most watched television event in Canada’s history, with half of the country’s population watching the entire game, and 80 percent of the nation watching at least a part of it.

All told, Canada came in third in the overall medal count, behind the Americans and Germans. But Canada’s 14 golds topped Germany’s 10 by a wide margin, and the U.S. and Norway followed with nine each.

It only makes sense that as the Olympic flame is extinguished these historic
Winter Olympics in Vancouver should be commemorated by naming the entire Canadian Olympic contingent — specifically its gold medal winners — our Canadian of the Week.

Here’s a list of the gold-medal winners:

Alexandre Bilodeau: Freestyle Skiing, Men’s Moguls

Maelle Ricker: Ladies’ Snowboard Cross

Christine Nesbitt: Ladies’ 1000m Speed Skating

Jon Montgomery: Men’s Skeleton

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir: Ice Dancing

Ashleigh McIvor: Freestyle Skiing, Ladies’ Ski Cross

Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse, Women’s Bobsled

Women’s Ice Hockey Team

Charles Hamelin: Men’s 500m Short Track Speed Skating

Men’s 5000m Short Track Speed Skating Men’s Relay — Charles Hamelin, Francois Hamelin, Olivier Jean, Francois-Louis Trembelay

Speed Skating: Men’s Team Pursuit — Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky, and Denny Morrison

Jasey Jay Anderson: Snowboard, Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom

Men’s Curling Team

Men’s Ice Hockey Team

It is difficult to fathom the weight on Joannie Rochette’s shoulders as she prepared to compete in figure skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics just two days after her mother Therese died of a sudden heart attack in Vancouver.

With her entire nation and the world watching, the 24-year-old Montreal native has gone about her Olympic dream, no doubt in loving tribute to her mother, and has said she will not do interviews until she’s done competing. But Skate Canada Chief Executive William Thompson said, “It is providing her with stability in a very uncertain time of her life. The Olympic Games has always been her dream and her mum always supported that dream.”

Dan Jansen recalled on NBC’s coverage that he learned of his sister’s passing the day he was set to compete in speedskating. Emphasizing that everyone grieves in their own way, Jansen remembered falling on the ice twice in his races that day, but hoped that Joannie Rochette would have a better experience as she prepared to compete in figure skating just two days after her mother’s sudden death.

Jansen said he sent Joannie an e-mail to explain what he’d been through and gave her some words of encouragement to help her get through, and he advised her to skate with her mother in her heart.

Joannie’s father, Normand, sat emotionally in the crowd as his daughter warmed up. she teared up as the crowd cheered when her name was announced.

Joannie turned in a riveting and brave performance that earned her a personal best score from the judges, but Tuesday night wasn’t about numbers or judges.

She sobbed in her coach’s arms as she left the ice and her father stood and cheered along with the rest of the packed arena.

In the face of tragedy came great triumph, and that kind of emotion and perseverance is what the Olympic Games are all about.

Well done, Joannie.

Talk about “third time’s a charm.”

Check this out: On the third day of the third Olympics ever held in Canada, 33 years (and seven months) after the Olympic cauldron was first lit in the Great White North, Canada won its third medal of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

And this one was gold.

The big story at the 2010 Winter Olympics has been the question of whether Canada would be able to — for the first time — win a gold medal on Canadian soil. It didn’t happen when Canada first hosted the Summer Olympics in Montreal in 1976, and it didn’t happen when the Winter Olympics came to Calgary in 1988.

But with a blistering 23.17-second time and a 26.76 score from the judges in the men’s moguls, 22-year-old Quebec native Alexandre Bilodeau made it happen, and there was immediately no doubt about who’d be named Canadian of the Week.

Check out his gold-medal run here

Congrats to Alex and all of Canada!

“Lost” is back and as it heads into its final hours with more buzz than ever it’s time to honor our favorite Oceanic 815 survivor as Canadian of the Week.

Evangeline Lilly had never held a lead role before she captivated viewers as fugitive Kate Austen who was among the few survivors of arguably the most famous fictional plane crash in entertainment history. But over six seasons, she’s made a name for herself as an action lady and the central figure in the greatest love triangle on the island.

Now, as the sixth and final season kicks off and the countdown to the highly anticipated finale begins, it’s worth taking a look at how far Lilly has come from the now-infamous LiveLinks commercials that reportedly still air in Canada.

Unfortunately for Lilly’s fans, she’s talking about calling it quits on acting once the show ends. She told Eonline’s Kristen Dos Santos that she’s just “not passionate about acting the way you probably should be to call yourself an actor.”

Lilly said she’d like “to have some quiet space,” and that she would like to “drop off the radar a little bit and enjoy a little bit of normalcy again.”

See the full interview here:

For now, we’ve still got her and we’ve got a few more months of what will certainly go down as one of the most unique, epic and engaging series in American television history.

Check out a teaser for Tuesday night’s episode, and fasten your seat belts!

Toronto rapper Drake won’t have Kanye West by his side at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, but he will have him mom with him.

She’s the lucky lady who will be on the arm of the 23-year-old sensation, who is nominated for two awards (Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap song — both for his quick hit, “Best I Ever Had”).

The night will be one of the biggest events of his life, and, win or lose, the former “Degrassi: The Next Generation” star is our Canadian of the Week.

In addition to being nominated for two awards (without even having a full-length album out), Drake will be performing his song “Forever” with Lil Wayne and Eminem. Kanye was on the original recording but, well, award shows haven’t really been his thing, of late.

Drake, whose role on “Degrassi” ended last year when his character graduated, said his Canadian roots are strong and that his hometown of Toronto is “the biggest inspiration behind my music.”

“I do everything I do for Toronto,” he told The Canadian Press after Grammy rehearsal on Friday. “It’s a city I really believe in.

“It’s got a bunch of great people. We got a lot of undiscovered things in Toronto, man: women, nightlife, restaurants, clubs, and talent. Women, first,” he adds with a smile.

“I just wanna bring the city to the forefront. I feel like every place needs an ambassador. They need somebody to show the rest of the world how magical that place can be. I think Jay (Jay-Z) does it for New York, a lot of people do it for Atlanta, Kanye did it for Chicago. A lot of rappers take it upon themselves.

“So I just really wanna be that guy for Toronto.”

Check out the official video for Drake’s “Best I Ever Had.” It’s kind of an odd tale of a women’s basketball coach (played by Drake) whose team is severely lacking in hoops talent and sports bras.

The decision each week over who will earn Canadian of the Week honors is typically a difficult one to narrow. Canadians, usually in the world of entertainment or sports (for this site’s purposes) often tend to be doing pretty good things.

This week’s choice, however, is simultaneously the easiest one we’ve made, yet the least narrow option possible. The Canadian of the Week is: Canadians.

While the world is responding to the post-earthquake crisis in Haiti, Canada’s efforts and those of its citizens deserves attention. For a relatively small nation, with a population of 33 million (about 10 percent the size of the United States), Canada has turned out tremendously in the relief effort.

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A telethon on Friday night, which aired at the same time “Hope for Haiti Now” did in the United States, raised nearly $10 million (Canadian), while another event, a French concert in Montreal, raised more than $6 million (Canadian).

All told, Canadians have contributed roughly $67 million to Haiti relief efforts, and the Canadian government will match its citizens’ contributions dollar for dollar. With other government and military aid included, Canada is contributing about $5 (U.S.) per person, and leads the world in per capita relief funds. The U.S. is short of $1 per person, so far.

This is clearly not a competition, and noting the contribution amounts should not be seen as turning it into one. But it’s more than fair to take a moment to appreciate the generosity of Canadians in these difficult times, and it’s more than alright for Canadians to be proud of themselves and their compatriates for their actions.

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In addition to financial donations, Canada has sought to become the center of ongoing relief and rebuilding efforts. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to start planning for the resconstruction of the island nation.

Photo credit:

Sometimes, it takes a Canadian to save the United States. And that time, for the eighth year, starts now.

Kiefer Sutherland is back for his eighth season as Jack Bauer on “24,” which premiered Sunday night opposite the Golden Globe Awards, where Kiefer was on hand as a presenter at the awards while his own show was kicking off on Fox.

This time around, Jack is in New York when he’s unwillingly drawn back into hero mode after learning of a plot to assassinate determined Middle Eastern peace-keeping leader Omar Hassan, who is negotiating international security with President Taylor (played by Cherry Jones) and new chief of staff Rob Weiss (played by Chris Diamantopoulos).

It’s no secret the show has waned in its reach and viewership, but there’s still not much that beats “24″ in the way of action and heart-stopping drama. If you missed last night’s premiere, watch the first two hours here before the next two hours air tonight on Fox.

Hour 1:

Hour 2:

It’s looking like “Youth in Revolt” is not quite the second coming of “Superbad,” but Brampton, Ontario’s Michael Cera still gets our vote for Canadian of the Week as he headlines the coming-of-age/alter-ego tale that premieres in theaters this weekend.

Projections show the film will pull in about $7 million in its first weekend, which isn’t great, but it gets a 71 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and will surely please Cera’s fans.

The simple fact, though, is that a fair amount of folks are getting tired of what they perceive as being Cera playing virtually the same role each time out. He does the awkward teen better than any actor in recent memory, but is it time to move on?

Check out the red-band trailer for “Youth in Revolt” below.

In case you missed it, the Order of Canada honorees were announced this week and Governor General Michaelle Jean included NHL legend Mario Lemieux of Montreal, film director Ivan Reitman of Toronto, and folk rocker Neil Young of Winnipeg among the 57 honorees for the year,

All three men were given the honor of Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors which recognizes “a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to community and service to the nation.”

We here at Canadian of the Week figure if they’re good enough for the Governor General, they’re good enough for us, and we’re therefore proud to bestow the additional honor of Canadian of the Week on all three of them.

Here are their citations from Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean:

Mario Lemieux
For his contributions as one of hockey’s most gifted players, as an inspirational role model and mentor, and for supporting charitable initiatives through the Mario Lemieux Foundation.

Ivan Reitman
For his contributions as a director and producer, and for his promotion of the Canadian film and television industries.

Neil Young
For his contributions as one of Canada’s greatest musical talents whose unique voice and iconic songs have influenced generations of musicians, and for his support of educational and charitable organizations.

See the full list of honorees here.