| Rachel Anne McAdams was born on November 17, 1978 in London, Ontario and was raised in the nearby town of St. Thomas. In high school, Rachel intended to apply to college to study cultural studies, because studying theater would be "a bit of a joke". At the last minute, a drama teacher encouraged her to audition to be a drama major. She eventually majored in theater at York University and graduated with honors and a B.F.A. degree.
She went on to star in several movies-of-the-week, before making her feature debut with a co-starring role in “My Name is Tanino” (2001), a comedy helmed by Italian director Paolo Virzi. A breakout role in the Canadian feature “Perfect Pie” (2002) hinted that the actress had much bigger Hollywood potential. Her first Hollywood movie was 2002's The Hot Chick which Rachel has described as a "huge milestone" in her career. An even bigger move, McAdams tried another more successful turn as a believable mean-spirited high schooler in “Mean Girls” (2004), a surprisingly well-written critical and box office hit starring Lindsay Lohan. An effectively sentimental and emotional film, “The Notebook” proved to be McAdams’ breakout performance – the actress popped off the screen in nearly every scene she was in, running the full spectrum of emotion, and embodying a mature, classic Hollywood star quality that made directors take notice. During 2005 Rachel starred in three Hollywood movies, "The Wedding Crashers", "Red Eye" and "The Family Stone". After taking a break from the public eye she returned in 2008 with the indie film “The Lucky Ones” (2008) about soldiers returning home from a mission. In december 2009 “Sherlock Holmes” (2009) was released in the US and UK. Rachel was again playing a femme fatale, the only women Sherlock ever loved: Irene Adler. Right after filming “Midnight in Paris” (2011) Rachel returned back to her homecountry Canada to start filming “The Vow” alongside Channing Tatum. “The Vow” is based on the true story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter. It tells the story of a couple recovers from a car accident that puts the wife (Rachel) in a coma. Waking up with severe memory loss, her husband endeavors to win her heart again. After the European promotion tour for “Morning Glory” Rachel flew to Strasbourg in the first week of February to film her cameo as Irene Adler for “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows“. In March 2011 Rachel returned to Oklahoma for (re-)shoots for the Terrence Malick project.
Rachel had a two-year relationship with Canadian actor Ryan Gosling from 2005 to 2007. She is currently in a relationship with Welsh actor Michael Sheen, whom she met on the set of Midnight in Paris in July 2010. McAdams is involved with many charitable and social causes.
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