TORONTO — Canadian actress Rachel McAdams celebrates her 35th birthday on Sunday.
The star of films like The Notebook and Sherlock Holmes was born at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in London, Ont. — the first of three children for Sandra, a nurse, and Lance, a truck driver. With her siblings Daniel and Kayleen, she grew up in a brick house on Chestnut Street in nearby St. Thomas.
McAdams caught the acting bug early. At 10, she was involved with the Original Kids Theatre Company in London, Ont. and by 12 she was playing a fairy in an amateur production of A Midsummer Nights Dream.
After Myrtle Street Public School, McAdams attended Central Elgin Collegiate Institute, where she thrived in drama class.
McAdams, at 18, won an award for her role in I Live in a Little Town, a play written and performed by Central Elgin students at the Sears Ontario Drama Festival.
Growing up, she also had a passion for figure skating — and spent many hours a week on the rink at the St. Thomas-Elgin Memorial Community Centre. She won the Gold Dance Award from the St. Thomas Figure Skating Club in 1997.
McAdams enrolled at the Centre for Film & Theatre at York University in Toronto and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Despite her success, McAdams has not forgotten her native country. When she’s not working, she lives with her brother in a modest semi-detached home near Bathurst and Harbord Streets in Toronto and is frequently seen either riding her bicycle or public transit around the city.
Coincidentally, she has made several movies in Toronto, including 2004’s Mean Girls, 2009’s The Time Travelers Wife and 2012’s The Vow. One of her latest projects is the made-in-Montreal drama Every Thing Will be Fine opposite James Franco.
McAdams is also set to star opposite Toronto-raised actor Keanu Reeves in Passengers.
In celebration of her 35th birthday, here are seven fun facts about McAdams:
– McAdams dated Ryan Gosling, her co-star in The Notebook, from 2005 to 2007. Gosling was born in the same hospital.
– In early 2009, McAdams was frequently spotted around Toronto with her then-boyfriend, actor Josh Lucas. Two years after they split up, Lucas lived in Toronto while filming the TV series The Firm.
– McAdams dated actor Michael Sheen, her Midnight in Paris co-star, from 2010 until earlier this year. While with her in Toronto, Sheen was able to spend time with his daughter Lily, whose mother Kate Beckinsale was filming Total Recall in the city.
– McAdams did her first topless scene in the 2002 Italian-Canadian film My Name is Tanino.
– The actress has made three movies in which she plays the wife or girlfriend of a man who travels through time: 2009’s The Time Travelers Wife, 2011’s Midnight in Paris and this year’s About Time.
– McAdams’ most successful films are those in which she is part of an ensemble (Sherlock Holmes, Wedding Crashers). One exception is The Vow, in which she co-stars with Channing Tatum. It earned nearly $200 million worldwide at the box office.
– McAdams spent three summers working at a McDonald’s in St. Thomas, Ont. She later became a vegetarian.
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