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Rachel McAdams
McAdams at the Toronto Film Festival, September 2007
Born	Rachel Anne McAdams November 17, 1978 (1978-11-17) (age 31) London, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001–present

Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978)¹² is a Canadian actress. Her breakout role was playing the "Queen Bee" in 2004's Mean Girls. She then starred in the film adaptation of The Notebook and alongside Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in the hit comedy Wedding Crashers. Her other film credits include The Family Stone, Red Eye and The Time Traveler's Wife. More recently she starred in Guy Ritchie's 2009 adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

Early life

McAdams was born in London, Ontario, Canada and grew up in the nearby city of St. Thomas. Her father, Lance, is a truck driver, and her mother, Sandra, is a nurse.³ She has a younger brother, Daniel, and a younger sister, Kayleen. She took up competitive figure skating at the age of four and acting at age twelve⁴ at a summer theatre camp in St. Thomas, Ontario named Original Kids. When the company extended to a year-round company (and eventually relocated to London, Ontario), she was invited to continue with them. She attended the Myrtle Street Public School⁵ and the publicly-funded secondary school Central Elgin Collegiate Institute in St. Thomas from grade nine to OAC and starred in the Award-winning student production I Live in a Little Town. She graduated from York University in Toronto with Honours and a BFA degree in Theatre in 2001.⁶ During her fourth year at York, she played a child in The Piper – a workshop led by a creative team from Toronto's Necessary Angel Theatre Company. She also attended Original Kids Theatre Company in London, Ontario, as well as David Rotenberg's on-camera acting class in Toronto with fellow actors Scott Speedman, Kenneth Mitchell, Polly Shannon and David Sutcliffe.^{citation needed}

Career

With Robert Downey, Jr. at San Diego Comic-Con, July 2009.

McAdams played the title role in the film The Hot Chick alongside Rob Schneider, but her career really progressed when she starred as Regina George, the queen bee in 2004's Mean Girls. She was much older than the character she played. McAdams had previously appeared in the Canadian television series Slings and Arrows, co-starring Paul Gross. She played a main role in the first season, but due to her rising stardom was written out of the second season, appearing in only the first episode. She followed Mean Girls with the film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel The Notebook, with Ryan Gosling, with whom she would later begin an off-screen romance.⁷

In 2005, she played Owen Wilson's love interest in Wedding Crashers and then starred in the suspense thriller Red Eye as Lisa Reisert, where she played a young woman held captive aboard a red-eye flight by criminal-for-hire and assassin Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy). Rachel was in The Family Stone where she starred in an ensemble cast alongside Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dermot Mulroney, Luke Wilson, Brian J. White and Claire Danes. McAdams auditioned for the role of Sue Storm in Fantastic Four and only just lost the part to Jessica Alba.⁸

McAdams' career slowed down in 2006. She was originally signed on as the female lead in The Last Kiss but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, and the role was given to Jacinda Barrett. She decided to take a year off from acting, to spend time with friends and family. McAdams then agreed to star in the drama Married Life with Pierce Brosnan and Patricia Clarkson. She turned down the role of Bond girl Vesper Lynd in the James Bond film Casino Royale. She stated in an interview in May 2006 that she did not want to star in a big-budget action film because she wanted to pursue other projects.

McAdams opted out of a cover shoot for Vanity Fair—in which she was to appear alongside two other young Hollywood actresses, Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley—upon finding out it was to be nude. When McAdams appeared on set and discovered it was nude, she politely declined, according to Knightley.

In her interview with PARADE Magazine, McAdams states, "When you're playing a fictional character, it's as normal and mundane as eating breakfast. What bothers me is our culture's obsession with nudity. It shouldn't be a big deal, but it is. I think this overemphasis with nudity makes actors nervous. There's the worry about seeing one's body dissected, misrepresented, played and replayed on the Internet."⁹ McAdams next starred in the political thriller State of Play alongside Academy Award winners Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe and Helen Mirren. Production wrapped in April 2008 and the film was released theatrically April 17, 2009.

McAdams arrives at The Lucky Ones premiere during the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2009, McAdams starred in Guy Ritchie's film Sherlock Holmes,¹⁰ based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic stories. McAdams played the role of Irene Adler alongside Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. Filming began in October 2008. Sherlock Holmes was released on Christmas Day 2009.

She also played Clare Abshire in The Time Traveler's Wife opposite Eric Bana, which was released on August 14, 2009. The film was based on Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel of the same name.

Awards and achievements

McAdams received popular acclaim for roles in both Mean Girls and The Notebook and was honored for her work, including a record^{citation needed} five nominations and three wins at the MTV Movie Awards in 2005. McAdams beat competition including Beyoncé Knowles and Jessica Alba. She won the MTV award for "Best Kiss" along with Ryan Gosling in The Notebook.

McAdams was nominated for a Genie Award for her role in Perfect Pie. She was also nominated for the BAFTA's Orange Rising Star award, which acknowledges the new talents in the acting industry. The award went to James McAvoy.

She hosted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences's 2006 Scientific and Technical Awards. McAdams received a Civic Award for her contribution to culture from the city of St. Thomas in 2006.

In April 2009, she was awarded the Female Star of The Year by ShoWest.

Personal life

McAdams dated Ryan Gosling, whom she had met during the making of The Notebook; they ceased dating in February 2007.¹¹¹²

McAdams dated actor Josh Lucas for four months in 2009.¹³

Filmography

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rachel McAdams

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rachel McAdams

• Rachel McAdams at the Internet Movie Database
• Rachel McAdams at TV.com
• Rachel McAdams at People.com
• Rachel McAdams at Yahoo! Movies
• Rachel McAdams - ELLE
• Rachel McAdams' Environmental Site