- David Bauer, Canadian ice hockey player and coach, educator and Catholic priest, inductee into multiple sports halls of fame
- Rich Beddoe is the drummer for the Canadian rock band Finger Eleven. He is from Cambridge, Ontario.
- Hockey player Todd Bertuzzi of the Detroit Red Wings makes his offseason home in Kitchener.
- Tim Brent is a hockey player from Cambridge, Ontario.
- Amanda Burk, artist who grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo.
- David Chilton, author of the financial planning guide The Wealthy Barber was born in Kitchener and lives in the region.
- David Eby, Premier of British Columbia, was born and raised in Kitchener.
- Author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell grew up in Elmira, Ontario.
- Mike Hoffman, hockey player from Kitchener
- David Johnston, former president of the University of Waterloo and Governor General of Canada lives in Wellesley Township.
- Lisa LaFlamme, journalist, from Kitchener.
- William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's longest serving prime minister, was born in Kitchener's predecessor Berlin, Ontario. His boyhood home is now Woodside National Historic Site.
- Mike Lazaridis, founder of Research In Motion, came as a student to attend the University of Waterloo.
- Boxer Lennox Lewis lived in Kitchener from the age of 12 and began his boxing career there. He maintains a home in Kitchener.
- Lois Maxwell, Golden Globe winning actress and the original Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond movies, was born in Kitchener.
- Jamal Murray, professional basketball player from Kitchener
- Helmut Oberlander, Ukrainian former Canadian who was a member of the Einsatzgruppen death squads of Nazi Germany in the occupied Soviet Union during World War II
- Joseph E. Seagram was a partner in 1869, and sole owner in 1883, in the company later known as Seagram.
- Donald Shaver created a world leading poultry breeding business.
- Dave Sim, creator of the comic book Cerebus the Aardvark, has lived in Kitchener since he was two years old.
- Edna Staebler, author and literary journalist, best known for her series of cookbooks, particularly Food That Really Schmecks
- Former hockey all-star Scott Stevens of the New Jersey Devils was born in Kitchener and played for the Kitchener Rangers. He also maintains a home there.
- Landscape artist Homer Watson was born in the village of Doon (now part of Kitchener).