Boris really wouldn't be considered a British Columbia, but as you will read, he changed his name from William Pratt while on his way to Kamloops BC, so one might say Boris was "Born" in BC :)

Boris Karloff (born William Henry Pratt) (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969) was an English actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s. He is best known for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein. His popularity following Frankenstein in the early 1930s was such that for a brief time he was billed simply as "Karloff" or, on some movie posters, "Karloff the Uncanny".

William Henry Pratt was born in Camberwell, London, England to Edward John Pratt, Jr., the Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Salt and Opium, Northern Division, Indian Salt Revenue Service, and his third wife, Eliza Sarah Millard. He was brought up in Enfield. His paternal grandmother was Eliza Julia (Edwards) Pratt, a sister of Anna Leonowens, whose tales about life in the royal court of Siam (now Thailand) were the basis of the musical The King and I. Her maternal grandmother was of East Indian origin from Calcutta in Bengal.

Research for a new biography has shown the actor was not orphaned in his youth, as has always been believed. Following his mother's death he was raised by his elder brothers and sister and attended Enfield Grammar School before moving to Uppingham School and Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, and eventually the University of London. Karloff's first goal in life was to join the foreign service — his brother, Sir John Henry Pratt, became a distinguished British diplomat — but instead he fell into acting.

In 1909, Pratt travelled to Canada, changing his name to something more in keeping with his new vocation while on his way to an acting job with the Jeanne Russell Theater Co. in Kamloops, British Columbia. He spent years testing the waters in North America while living in smaller towns like Kamloops and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. In 1912, while appearing in a play in Regina, Saskatchewan, Karloff volunteered to be a rescue worker following a devastating tornado. He also lived in Minot, North Dakota, for a year, performing in an opera house above a hardware store. For health reasons, he did not fight in World War I.