Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details.
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
“It was just an adventure,” says Guy Laliberté, “and I was planning to go back to school and have a regular life.”
Laliberté never went back to school, but that adventure would become the world famous Cirque du Soleil. Since founding Cirque when he was just 24 years old, Laliberté has not only changed the modern face of the circus, but has also become one of the richest men in Canada. Worth an estimated $1.5 billion, Laliberté was named Ernst & Young’s 2007 Entrepreneur of the Year for turning his vision into a global empire. Today, more than 50 million people the world over have seen a Cirque du Soleil production.
Laliberté was born on September 2, 1959 in Quebec City, Canada. His large middle-class family was overseen by his nurse mother and his father, who worked as a public relations executive for Alcan Aluminum Corporation. As a child, Laliberté was always interested in performing for others, whether it was learning martial arts or folk dancing, or singing in choirs. “There was always a reason for a party,” he recalls, “always music in the house.”
After producing a number of performing arts events in high school, Laliberté became convinced that his was a life destined for the stage. For a time, he played the accordion and harmonica in a group called “La Grande Gueule.” But Laliberté was also keen on traveling, describing himself as a “dreamer, fascinated by the cultures of the world.”
When Laliberté was 18 years old, he decided to travel to Europe. “Originally the dream was about traveling and developing a job that would permit me to travel,” he says. “And I decided to go into street performing because it was a traveling job; it would let me go around the world.”
Laliberté began working as a street performer, playing traditional Canadian music on an accordion with a hat in front of him for donations. With little money and nowhere to stay in London, Laliberté slept on a bench in Hyde Park. But the experience was a rewarding one, for it was on the streets of Europe that Laliberté met other street performers who taught him how to fire breathe, juggle, perform magic tricks, and walk on stilts. After a year of street performing, Laliberté returned home.
Back in Canada, Laliberté tried to work a regular 9-5 job, but had little success. A job with a hydroelectric dam ended just three days later when the workers went on strike. Using the money from the strike fund, Laliberté could support himself while he joined Les Echassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul, a stilt-walking troupe in Quebec. Laliberté also worked with its founder, Gilles Ste-Croix, to put together an entire festival of street performers. La Fête Foraine was eventually barred from its home town after being disapproved of by the townspeople, but that would not stop Laliberté. He took the festival to other nearby towns and when he saw the positive response, he began to dream bigger dreams.
“We’re not afraid of risking what was our success yesterday in order to explore some new field,” says Laliberté. “We’re adventurous. We like the challenge of unknown territory, unknown artistic field, and that’s wha...
Until 2010, Laliberté will have his hands full with the opening of three new shows and a special Christmas production. “Our biggest goal is to continue to force ourselves to always start our creative work on a white...
“Our approach was very simple,” says Laliberté. “It was about creating a universal language. A show that will be attractive toward every people coming from all over the world. And that was a big thing.”
In 1984, just before the 450th anniversary of Canada’s discovery by Jacques Cartier, Laliberté went to the government of Quebec with a proposal. He wanted to stage a large-scale street show in celebration of the eve...
Guy Laliberté Video - The Marketing Hall of Legends was created to honor Canadians who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of excellence in the field of marketing. It is meant to honor a body of work and a lifetime of achievements. Guy Laliberté was inducted in 2005 in the Visionary category.
Guy Laliberte Newsletter
Get our free newsletter to learn more about Guy Laliberte and other famous entrepreneurs!
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
“We’re not afraid of risking what was our success yesterday in order to explore some new field,” says Laliberté. “We’re adventurous. We like the challenge of unknown territory, unknown artistic field, and that’s wha...
