Canberra is fast becoming an artistic and intellectual hive, and there are many fascinating and talented people that have a lot to do with this amazing change. Here are ten that were born right here in the capital.

A very prolific artist hailing from the ACT, Fred Fowler now lives and works abroad specialising in drawing, painting and printmaking. His previous work in graffiti and stencilling, touring around Australia and the rest of the world are intense and insightful.

One especially well-known actress, Mia Wasikowska, was born and raised in Canberra. Her break out role as a teenager on In Treatment led to her starring role opposite Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s version of Alice and Wonderland.

In other creative fields Canberra’s own Mary Finsterer shines as an award-winning composer. Her orchestral work has featured on Die Hard 4 working with Marco Beltrami as well as Biographica and Lake Ice performed at the Sydney Opera House.

Ballet dancer Alan Alder (not Alan Alda from MASH!) worked with the Covent Garden Opera Ballet before rising to a principal with Sadler Wells Royal Ballet, touring around the world in the late Fifties to the early Sixties, also performing with the Australian Ballet until 1980.

Another artist of a different medium, Geoff Pryor is a political cartoonist. Cartooning is clearly in his blood, his work at The Canberra Times earned him both a Walkley and a Stanley award. After a short retirement, Geoff has returned to national commentary through The Saturday Paper.

Canberra is the birthplace of many very intelligent people, including writer and editor David Vernon. His non-fiction works include the award-winning Men at Birth and other informative texts on pregnancy and childbirth in Australia, as well as Skeptical – a co-written book on pseudo-science and the paranormal.

In the field of politics, Canberra-born Katy Gallagher has done a lot of good. Working in many areas such as health and education the politician takes an active stance in all her work, achieving the ultimate position as Chief Minister in 2011.

Dr. Peter Mathews’ archeological work has opened up many answers to the Mayan hieroglyphs. His lifelong work on the subject has unlocked important areas such as dates and reading of present and future discoveries.

An inspiration to the capital, Gemma Dashwood is a Canberra-born Paralympic swimmer, who overcame the challenges of septic arthritis to win gold, silver and bronze medals. Dashwood is also a speech pathologist graduating from the University of Newcastle and, more recently, from Australian National University Medical School.

Field hockey player Katrina Powell, is an Olympic gold medal winner from both the 1996 and the 2000 Olympics, scoring the first goal in the 1996 final. She captained the Hockeyroos and was joined on both medal-winning teams by her sister, Lisa.

Canberra is filled with interesting and driven people in many different fields, from creativity to feats of strength and speed. These ten are only a few from a much longer list.

Who do you know that inspires you through their contribution to Canberra?