Biography

Rachel McAdams

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Overview

Born
November 17, 1978 · London, Ontario, Canada
Birth name
Rachel Anne McAdams
Nickname
- Rach
Height
5′ 4″ (1.63 m)

Biography

Rachel Anne McAdams was born on November 17, 1978 in London, Ontario, Canada, to Sandra Kay (Gale), a nurse, and Lance Frederick McAdams, a truck driver and furniture mover. She is of English, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish descent. Rachel became involved with acting as a teenager and by the age of 13 was performing in Shakespearean productions in summer theater camp; she went on to graduate with honors with a BFA degree in Theater from York University. After her debut in an episode of Disney's The Famous Jett Jackson (1998), she co-starred in the Canadian TV series Slings and Arrows (2003), a comedy-drama about the trials and travails of a Shakespearean theater group, and won a Gemini award for her performance in 2003.

Her breakout role as Regina George in the hit comedy Mean Girls (2004) instantly catapulted her onto the short list of Hollywood's hottest young actresses. She followed that film with a star turn opposite Ryan Gosling in the adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks bestseller The Notebook (2004), which was a surprise box office success and became the predominant romantic drama for a new, young generation of moviegoers. After filming, McAdams and Gosling became romantically involved and dated through mid-2007. McAdams next showcased her versatility onscreen with the manic comedy Wedding Crashers (2005), the thriller Red Eye (2005), and the holiday drama The Family Stone (2005).

McAdams then explored the independent film world with Married Life (2007), which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and also starred Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson. Starring roles in the military drama The Lucky Ones (2008), the newspaper thriller State of Play (2009), and the romance The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) followed before she starred opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Guy Ritchie's international blockbuster Sherlock Holmes (2009). McAdams played the plucky producer of a failing morning TV show in Morning Glory (2010), the materialistic fiancée of Owen Wilson in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011), and returned to romantic drama territory with the hit film The Vow (2012) opposite Channing Tatum. The actress also stars with Ben Affleck in Terrence Malick's To the Wonder (2012) and alongside Noomi Rapace in Brian De Palma's thriller Passion (2012).

In 2005, McAdams received ShoWest's "Supporting Actress of the Year" Award as well as the "Breakthrough Actress of the Year" at the Hollywood Film Awards. In 2009, she was awarded with ShoWest's "Female Star of the Year." As of 2011, she has been romantically linked with her Midnight in Paris (2011) co-star Michael Sheen.
- IMDb mini biography by: jatza

Family

Children
Parents
Relatives

Trademarks

Fair complexion with a few small moles on her face and neck
Her Bright Smile with Dimples

Trivia

In 2006, she walked out of a cover shoot for the annual Vanity Fair Hollywood issue when she realized it demanded nudity (leaving a naked Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley to drape themselves over a fully clothed Tom Ford). Ford had prearranged with McAdams' publicist, Ame Van Iden, for the actress to appear nude in the group portrait, but Van Iden neglected to tell her that she would have to undress for the shoot. When McAdams arrived on the set and found out what Ford had in mind, she fired Van Iden.
Was Jon Favreau's first choice to play Pepper Potts in Iron Man (2008), but she turned the role down. Gwyneth Paltrow was subsequently cast instead.
Used to not own a car, as part of her daily contribution to help conserve energy, she used to ride her bike or take the bus.
Between 2009 and 2016, she played a love interest to a man who can travel through (or otherwise manipulate) time four dissimilar times: The Time Traveler's Wife (2009), Midnight in Paris (2011), About Time (2013) and Doctor Strange (2016). In none of these four movies does McAdams' character herself get to participate in these time travels or manipulations.
Born in the same hospital as The Notebook (2004) co-star Ryan Gosling in St. Joseph's Hospital, London, Ontario.

Quotes

As strange as movie making is, doing love scenes for the first time with someone you've never even said hello to does work in terms of having a fresh quality to a relationship.
It takes a lot of time, commitment and a choice. I've chosen this path, but it's not to say I'm not open to love or whatever comes my way. You never close doors.
The craziest thing I've ever done to get a guy's attention? I admit I stalked someone. I showed up at a restaurant where I knew the guy worked, and we were actually good friends and had lost touch, and I pretended that I didn't know he worked there. And then ran into him and, "Oh my God, you work here? I had no idea." It's the most manipulative thing I've done in my entire life, but it all worked out very well, so I have no regrets.
The most romantic thing, a lovely boy bought me a dress once. He got my measurements, actually they were from The Notebook (2004) and I had them sitting somewhere, and he found them and bought me this dress, tailor-made, this beautiful little black cocktail dress. And I thought that was very, very classy.
I want to try a lot of things that I haven't tried. You know, I did a thriller (Red Eye (2005)) after this, because it was so different and it was a genre I hadn't worked in yet. Then I did a beautiful family ensemble drama. And next? I don't know. I might go off to do a small independent in New York. I'm not sure. The quality of material is important but, basically, I'm open to anything. I like to stay open to anything.