Guy Laliberte, Cirque du Soleil CEO
The founder of the world’s most famous circus started out as a street performer in Quebec, playing the accordion, walking on stilts and swallowing fire with a troupe of traveling performers named Les Echassiers. Aware that he could harness the many talents of the street performers on Quebec’s Fête foraine de Baie-Saint-Paul, Laliberte earned a government grant to launch the first financially-supported Cirque de Soleil tour in 1984, with 73 performers. Since then, the organization has blossomed to more than 3,800 performers in countries around the world. Laliberte, with a net worth of $2.6 billion, is now a philanthropist, space explorer, and professional poker player, in addition to running Cirque de Soleil productions