Bret Hart is a Canadian on-screen personality

Celebrity

A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...

, writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and Semi-retired professional wrestler

Professional wrestling

Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

. Like others in the Hart wrestling family

Hart wrestling family

The Hart wrestling family is a Canadian family with a significant history within professional wrestling. The patriarch of the family is wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Stu Hart, amateur and professional wrestler, promoter and trainer, who not only owned and operated his own wrestling...

, Hart has an amateur wrestling

Amateur wrestling

Amateur wrestling is the most widespread form of sport wrestling. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of FILA : Greco-Roman and freestyle. Freestyle is possibly derived from the English Lancashire style...

 background, including wrestling at Ernest Manning High School

Ernest Manning High School

Ernest Manning High School is a public senior high school located in the City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and south of the Bow River. The school falls under the jurisdiction of the Calgary Board of Education...

 and Mount Royal College. Along with his famed "Hit Man" nickname, Hart's technical prowess and agility earned him the monikers "The Excellence of Execution", and "The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and The Best There Ever Will Be". He was also known as "The Pink and Black Attack", in reference to his ring attire, as well as his signature mirrored sunglasses, which he would routinely give away to a young audience member before matches.

Hart debuted in professional wrestling in 1976 with his father Stu Hart's

Stu Hart

Stewart Edward "Stu" Hart, CM was a Canadian amateur wrestler, professional wrestler, promoter and trainer. Hart founded Stampede Wrestling, a promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, and was the father of famous wrestlers Bret and Owen Hart...

 promotion

Professional wrestling promotion

A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...

, Stampede Wrestling

Stampede Wrestling

Stampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta and was for nearly 50 years one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies...

, went on to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling

is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...

 (NJPW), and later found mainstream popularity and championship success throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF—later WWE), where he helmed the Hart Foundation

The Hart Foundation

The Hart Foundation referred to several teams or stables in the World Wrestling Federation , usually consisted of members or close friends of the Hart wrestling family from Canada....

, a faction of Hart family members and allies; WWE has recognized Hart as arguably the most popular wrestler of the mid-1990s.