Former National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Lois Smith was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, on October 8, 1929. At the age of eleven months, Smith was entered into a contest sponsored by the Fraser Valley Milk Producers' Association. Her mother described her as a “roly poly” baby. Along with seventy-four other baby contestants under a year old, Smith was examined by doctors. In her memoir, she writes, “Most of the babies were crying - all were naked; I evidently did not cry.”