Rachel McAdams Biography And Filmography:

Canadian actress Rachel McAdams was first noted by audiences portraying a teen queen in “The Hot Chick” (2004) and then “Mean Girls” (2004). Audiences were surprised by her emotional performance in the romantic “The Notebook” (2004), and as a friendly girl-next-door in the comedy smash hit “Wedding Crashers” (2005) with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. The sometimes blonde, sometimes brunette, sometimes pink-haired actress portrayed roles just as impulsive as her appearance, giving all of them with the same dazzling style as her flamboyant personal style. 

Rachel McAdams was born on Oct. 7, 1978 in London, Ontario and was raised in the town of St. Thomas. McAdams started figure skating at the age of five and competed through high school. By ten years old, she was also involved in the "Original Kids Theatre Company" in London, appearing in productions of Shakespeare and other classics. McAdams did not plan to pursue acting beyond high school graduation in 1997, but thanks to the encouragement of a staff member, she started in the Drama program at York University in Toronto. 

McAdams made her first onscreen appearance in “The Famous Jett Jackson” (1998-2002) as Hannah, the bulimic older sister of the lead character. She went on to star in various television movies before making her feature big-screen introduction with a co-starring role in “My Name is Tanino” (2001), a comedy about a young, carefree Italian who chases an American tourist (Rachel McAdams) to America after a romantic affair in his hometown. Her breakout role in the Canadian movie “Perfect Pie” (2002) as the best friend of a small town girl who makes it big won her a nomination for a Genie Award, Canada’s Oscar.

In 2002, McAdams was cast in a starring role in the movie “The Hot Chick” (2002), a teen comedy about a an attractive and popular teenager who is mean spirited toward others, and finds herself trapped in the body of an older man, and must find a way to get back to her original body.

McAdams was the hired and cast as another mean-spirited high school girl in “Mean Girls” (2004) with Lindsay Lohan and Tina Fey, about  a sheltered, home-schooled childhood in Africa, and the girl who must learn to survive the jungle of "Girl World" at a public high school in suburban Chicago after being accepted by the "Plastics", the three most popular girls in the junior class. After the success of  “Mean Girls,” McAdams returned to Canadian television, playing a young actress in “Slings and Arrows” (2003-05), a comedy about a small town theater company.

Back on the Hollywood movie screen, McAdams appeared in “The Notebook” (2004) with Ryan Gosling, a movie that focuses on an old man reading a story to an old woman in a nursing home. A sentimental and emotional film, "The Notebook" was McAdams' breakout performance.  And to the delight of fans everywhere, she and co-star Ryan Gosling became couples in real-life, enjoying a promising future as one of young Hollywood’s coolest and most private young celebrity couples until their breakup in 2007.

McAdams followed up with the Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn smash hit comedy "Wedding Crashers" (2005), in a thankless role as the woman who finally gets the shy wedding crasher Owen Wilson's heart. She then took a starring role in the Wes Craven thriller "Red Eye" (2005), playing a clever hotel employee who finds herself trapped on an airline flight with an alarming passenger (Cillian Murphy) who terrorizes her to change the suite of a political guest at her hotel in exchange for her father's safety. 

The actress next appeared with the ensemble cast of “The Family Stone” (2005) featuring Claire Danes, a well-done dramatic comedy about the oldest son (Dermot Mulroney) of a wild family who brings his bossy New York girlfriend (Sarah Jessica Parker) home for the holidays. McAdams next appeared in the crime drama “Married Life”, starring Pierce Brosnan, a 1940s-set drama where an adulterous man plots his wife's death instead of putting her through the humiliation of a divorce.

McAdams then returned the series TV with a few additional guest appearances in "Slings And Arrows (2006), set in the fictional town of New Burbage, where a legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival. 

Rachel McAdams then took a starring role next to power house Tim Robbins in the dramatic comedy "The Lucky Ones" (2008), a story that revolves around three soldiers who return from the Iraq War after suffering injuries and learn that life has moved on without them. She next took the starring role in "The Time Traveler's Wife" (2008), a romantic drama about a Chicago librarian (Eric Bana) with a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel, and the complications it creates for his marriage. McAdams wrapped her year being cast as Della Frye in the crime thriller "State Of Play" (2009), a movie based on the BBC mini-series of the same title about a team of investigative reporters who work alongside a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman's mistress.