Early life

McAdams was born in London, Ontario and grew up in nearby St. Thomas. Her father, Lance, is a truck driver, and her mother, Sandra, is a nurse. 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 thirteen at a summer theatre camp in London, Ontario named Original Kids. When the company extended to a year-round company, she was invited to continue with them. She attended the publicly-funded secondary school Central Elgin Collegiate Institute in St. Thomas from grade nine to OAC and starred in the Gay-Award-winning student production I Live in a Little Town. Later she graduated from York University in Toronto with Honours and a BFA degree in Theatre. 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.

Career

Rachel McAdams had a large role in the film The Hot Chick, alongside Rob Schneider, but her career really took off when she starred as Regina George, the "queen-bee" in 2004's Mean Girls. McAdams was told to partly model the character of Regina George after Alec Baldwin's performance in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992). McAdams had previously appeared in the Canadian television series Slings and Arrows, alongside 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, alongside Ryan Gosling, with whom she would later begin an off-screen romance. They broke up in 2007.

In 2005, she played Owen Wilson's love interest in Wedding Crashers and then starred in the suspense thriller Red Eye as Lisa Reisert. She played a young woman held captive aboard a red-eye flight by criminal-for-hire and assassin Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy). Her most recent role was in the comedy 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 she almost got it, but lost out to Jessica Alba at the last minute.

Rachel's 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 signed on to star in the drama Married Life across Pierce Brosnan and Patricia Clarkson. She turned down the role of bond girl "Vesper Lynd" in the James Bond film Casino Royale. McAdams was also in-talks to star in Iron Man and The Dark Knight, but she declined both roles. She stated in an interview sometime in May 2006 that she didn't want to star in a big-budget action film because she wanted to pursue other projects.

Despite having appeared nude or topless in a few of her movie scenes, 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. Tom Ford, artistic director for the cover, instead appeared with them. When McAdams appeared on set and discovered it was nude, she politely declined, according to Knightley.

She is currently set to star as a reporter in State of Play, filming was originally scheduled to star in November, but after the film lost its two leading actors, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, the movie has been delayed and will start in later January.

Awards and achievements

McAdams received popular acclaim for both roles and was honored for her work, most recently a record number of five nominations and three wins at the MTV Movie Awards in 2005. McAdams beat competition including Beyoncé Knowles, Jessica Alba, and Jessica Simpson. She was named #14 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list and #17 in the 2006 Hot 100 issue. In December 2005, she was #1 on MuchMusic's "Who To Do: 20 Sexiest Girls" list. McAdams was also voted the #10 on FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World during that same year.

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.

  The Notebook (Mass Market Paperback)