Rachel McAdams

Rachel McAdams
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Born	October 7 1978 (age 30) [1] London, Ontario

Rachel McAdams (born October 7, 1978) is a Canadian actress.

Biography

Early life

Rachel 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 younger half-sister, Kayleen.

At the age of four, she took up competitive figure skating. She took up acting at age thirteen at a summer theater camp. When the company extended to a year-round company, she was invited to continue with them. She attended 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. Later she graduated from York University in Toronto with Honours and a BFA degree in Theatre. During her senior 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 Rothenberg's on-camera acting class in Toronto with fellow actors Scott Speedman, Kenneth Mitchell, Polly Shannon and David Sutcliffe.

Career

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.

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.

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. McAdams was anxious to sign on to a script which was "creative" and "different". It was said that Rachel turned down Anne Hathaway's role in The Devil Wears Prada as well as the bond girl "Vesper Lynd" in the much anticipated Bond film Casino Royale, both were box-office smash hits. McAdams eventually returned to acting to do the independent-drama Married Life(which has a limited release date set for November 9, 2007).

Rachel was also rumored to be set to star as the love interest in Iron Man and Katie Holmes's replacement in The Dark Knight as well as playing the role of sexy, femme fatale Agent 99 in Get Smart. However, McAdams stated in an interview in May 2006 that she had no interest to do a big-budget super-hero/action adaptation because of various reasons one including that she had never really taken interest in a film of that sort and that she wanted to sign on to a film mainly because she wanted to do it, not because the salary was high. It was later confirmed that she was offered all three of the roles but politely turned them down. The roles were later taken over by Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway, and the role of "Rachel Dawes" is rumored to have Maggie Gyllenhaal play the part.

Despite having appeared nude and/or topless in few of her movie scenes, McAdams abruptly opted out of a cover shoot for Vanity Fair 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.

According to Elle magazine, she turned down parts in Mission: Impossible III and Casino Royale, as well the role that went to Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada.[1]

Personal life

McAdams currently lives in Toronto. She is a former vegetarian, and is currently dating her The Notebook co-star Ryan Gosling. Both were born in St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario.

Awards and achievements

McAdams received popular acclaim for both roles and was honoured 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 100issue. 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 2005.

McAdams was nominated for a Genie Award, the Canadian equivalent of the Academy 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.

Selected filmography

Footnotes

Wikipedia information about Rachel McAdams This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rachel McAdams". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.