Rachel's roots

Rachel's roots

How this young Canadian became a Hollywood star

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Who knew this high school grad from a small town in Ontario would become a big Hollywood star? Um, apparently everyone who knew her.

Photograph by : Central Elgin Collegiate Institute

John Kennedy, canada.com

Published: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

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With the opening of The Family Stone this week, Rachel McAdams wraps up a year as one of Hollywood’s brightest new stars.

The holiday comedy, in which she plays Diane Keaton’s daughter, is McAdams’ third movie of 2005 ? after the thriller Red Eye and the smash comedy Wedding Crashers.

The 29-year-old Canadian actress kicked off her hot streak in 2002 with a starring role in The Hot Chick, followed by the made-in-Toronto comedy Mean Girls and the romantic comedy The Notebook.

Where did McAdams’ road to fame begin?

A resident of both Los Angeles and Toronto, McAdams was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario (the same hospital where her Notebook co-star and current boyfriend Ryan Gosling was born) and grew up in nearby St. Thomas with her younger siblings Daniel and Kayleen and parents Sandra, a nurse, and Lance, a truck driver.

McAdams started figure skating at age four at the Elgin St. Thomas Memorial Community Centre and took part in competitions until her teen years. In 1997, McAdams won the Gold Dance Award from the St. Thomas Figure Skating Club.

The acting bug bit early and by age 10 McAdams was performing with the Original Kids Theatre Company in London. Two years later she was doing Shakespeare in summer productions.

McAdams pursued acting at Central Elgin Collegiate Institute, where she was a popular student who played sports and served on the students’ council and Peer Helping Team while working part-time at McDonald’s.

Her high school drama teacher remembers seeing a star in the making.

"She certainly stood out in anything she was in," says Linda Maskell Pereira. "She just had that certain sparkle. I don't know what it is."

In 1995, McAdams won an award for her role in I Live in a Little Town, a play written and performed by students at Central Elgin, after it was featured in the renowned Sears Ontario Drama Festival.

"Rachel was part of an ensemble so winning that award shows how she was able to hold your attention," says Pereira.

But McAdams wasn’t going to pursue acting after high school until a chance encounter with Pereira in a school stairwell in her graduating year.

"I asked her where she was going after high school and she told me she was going to university to study social sciences. I asked her why she wasn't going to study drama and she said 'There are no jobs! How am I going to support myself?' Rachel is a very practical, bright girl.

"I told her if it was something she loved to do, she should go for it. So she switched to drama and the rest is history."

McAdams enrolled at York University in Toronto and studied with Professor Daniel Rotenberg at the Centre for Film & Theatre.

Andy Williams, who dated McAdams for six months at university, says she always planned to end up on stage.

"She wanted to do live theatre, like Broadway plays, because that's what she was doing at York," recalls Williams, adding he’s not surprised by his ex-girlfriend’s success.

"She's very talented."

Pereira says she is impressed with her former student’s work in movies like The Notebook and Mean Girls.

"What was so amazing is that I expected to see someone who reminded me of Rachel but it was her," she says. "It was exactly how I remembered her.

“She's mesmerizing."

ⓒCanWest News Service 2005