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Rachel McAdams - Biography |
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Rachel Anne McAdams (born November
17, 1978) 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.
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. 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 twelve 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 School 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. 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.
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 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.
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.
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." 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.
In 2009, McAdams starred in Guy Ritchie's film Sherlock Holmes, 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.
McAdams received popular acclaim for roles in both Mean Girls and The
Notebook and was honored for her work, including a record 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.
McAdams dated Ryan Gosling, whom she had met during the making of The
Notebook; they ceased dating in February 2007.
McAdams dated actor Josh Lucas for four months in 2009. |
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Rachel McAdams - Personal Quotes |
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"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."
"Yeah. I still live in Canada, so it's not quite the same. And when
I'm in L.A., I'm in a car; you don't have the contact with the
public. It's not so bad. It's still pretty much the same. I still
feel pretty normal-ish."
"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."
"A friend of mine had this great theory about the "Teletubbies"
(1997), that it's preparing us for being mindless. And getting us
ready for living in an underground world. When they build the
underground world because we can no longer breathe the air that it
will look like Teletubbie land."
"I don't know, I like to go on really different types of dates.
Going someplace new or some new part of the city, something that's
not your average thing. Something where you just go have an
adventure together."
"I guess you have to be really open to your acting partners and
believe in the story."
"I have a certain curiosity for life that drives me and propels me
forward."
"I once made a (it was supposed to be a 30-minute) bean salad that
took me like 6 hours."
"I want to work with great directors and try not to put too much
pressure on myself and just read things for the story and recognize
when I'm drawn to something for the right reasons and try to
maintain some sanity."
"I've discovered as I've grown up that life is far more complicated
than you think it is when you're a kid. It isn't just a
straight-forward fairytale."
"I've sort of heard that "it" girl thing, but not really. Hearing it
from a few people doesn't solidify it in my mind and I wouldn't know
how to solidify that title. It's so elusive and what does it mean, I
don't know?"
"I'll put on a punk rock T-shirt, a '50s style skirt, and a pair of
flip-flops. I like to mesh a whole bunch of things together."
"I'm a sucker for those sweeping love stories. When I read the
script (The Notebook (2004)), I couldn't stop crying! I just had
such a powerful, instantaneous reaction - it was written so well."
"I was not popular in high school, I know every actress says that,
but really, I was a big geek."
"Paramount sent them nine-foot-high (theater lobby) cutouts of me.
They say, "You don't have to come home, we've got you in every room
of the house!"
"Most of the time, people will just pass me by, or if they do
realize, they'll say something like, "My girlfriend said that was
you, but I didn't believe her."
"I did (training in) tennis, ballet, swing dancing, piano, art class
and etiquette. I also did French dialect, but then it was mixing me
up with my Southern dialect, so we stuck to Southern!" |
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Rachel McAdams - Filmography |
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Untitled Terrence Malick
Project (2011)
Morning Glory (2010) .... Becky Fuller
Canada for Haiti (2010) (TV)
Sherlock Holmes (2009) .... Irene Adler
The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) .... Clare Abshire
... aka The Time Traveller's Wife (UK)
State of Play (2009) .... Della Frye
... aka Jeux de pouvoir (France)
The Lucky Ones (2008) .... Colee Dunn
Married Life (2007) .... Kay Nesbitt
... aka Pour le meilleur et pour le pire (Canada: French title)
The Family Stone (2005) .... Amy Stone
Red Eye (2005) .... Lisa Reisert
Wedding Crashers (2005) .... Claire Cleary
"Slings and Arrows" .... Kate McNab (7 episodes, 2003-2005)
- Season's End (2005) TV episode .... Kate McNab
- Playing the Swan (2003) TV episode .... Kate McNab
- Mirror up to Nature (2003) TV episode .... Kate McNab
- Outrageous Fortune (2003) TV episode .... Kate McNab
- Madness in Great Ones (2003) TV episode .... Kate McNab
(2 more)
The Notebook (2004) .... Allie Hamilton
Mean Girls (2004) .... Regina George
... aka Méchantes ados (Canada: French title)
The Hot Chick (2002) .... Jessica
Perfect Pie (2002) .... Patsy (age 15)
... aka La voie du destin (Canada: French title)
My Name Is Tanino (2002) .... Sally Garfield
Guilt by Association (2002) (TV) .... Danielle
... aka Coupable par amour (Canada: French title)
"Earth: Final Conflict" .... Christine Bickwell (1 episode, 2002)
... aka EFC (USA: promotional abbreviation)
... aka Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict (USA: complete
title)
... aka Invasion planète Terre (Canada: French title)
... aka Mission Erde: Sie sind unter uns (Germany)
- Atavus High (2002) TV episode (as Rachel MacAdams) .... Christine
Bickwell
"The Famous Jett Jackson" .... Hannah Grant (1 episode, 2001)
- Food for Thought (2001) TV episode .... Hannah Grant
Shotgun Love Dolls (2001) (TV) .... Beth |
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Rachel McAdams - Related Links |
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Wikipedia: Rachel McAdams
YouTube: Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams
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