Rachel McAdams biography

"When Wedding Crashers came out, everyone was hyped up, calling Rachel the new 'It Girl,'" said Tom Bezucha, director of The Family Stone, in an Elle interview. He continued, "... her selectiveness shows wisdom greater than her years about her place in the industry. She's very purposeful in sidestepping Hollywood. She has the opportunity to be this huge, huge movie star, but in her heart she's a character actress."

In the same interview, McAdams revealed,

"I'm not going to make movies just to make movies. I have to be passionate about it. And at the same time, I can get very distracted when I'm working, and I like to get back to my life a lot." During her break, the actress turned down roles in films such as Mission Impossible 3, Casino Royale, The Devil Wears Prada and Get Smart.

McAdams returned to work in 2008, appearing in Married Life and The Lucky Ones, which both failed to achieve box-office success. Things turned around in 2009, with roles in higher-grossing films like State of Play, The Time Traveler's Wife and Sherlock Holmes.

Her return to prominence continued over the next few years, with critically acclaimed roles in Morning Glory (2010) and Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011)—in which McAdams and her co-stars received a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award (for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture).

McAdams achieved her biggest box-office success with her leading role ($196 million worldwide) in the 2012 drama The Vow (2012). The film is based on the true story of a husband (Channing Tatum) who tries to rebuild his relationship with his wife (McAdams), after a car crash injury impairs her memory.

And it doesn't look like McAdams will be taking another acting break anytime soon. Films with scheduled releases within in the next couple years include the romantic drama To the Wonder, erotic thriller Passion, romantic comedy About Time and espionage thriller A Most Wanted Man.

Personal Life

From 2004 through 2007, McAdams dated Ryan Gosling, her Canadian co-star in The Notebook. Gosling told GQ in 2007, "God bless The Notebook, it introduced me to one of the great loves of my life." The pair reunited in 2008 before splitting again the next year.

McAdams launched Green is Sexy in 2007, an Earth-conscious website that offers environmental tips. According to a post by McAdams on her website, she's making an effort to lighten her footprint on the earth—supporting tree planting organizations, switching her house to green power and developing "an OCD for unplugging anything with a plug."

In 2009, the actress briefly dated American actor Josh Lucas, the ex-beau of actress Salma Hayek. McAdams was also tied to Welsh actor Michael Sheen, her co-star in the film Midnight in Paris.

McAdams's interests include cooking, though she has admitted, "I'm not an amazing cook, but I can follow a recipe," and "I wouldn't mind running a restaurant." The actress has long kept a healthy lifestyle and practiced kundalini yoga. She once stated of being a former vegetarian, "it made me very tired.