A country girl from Canada, Rachel was born on October 7, 1976 in London, Ontario to Lance and Sandy McAdams. She grew up in a small town of St. Thomas together with her younger siblings, Kayleen and Daniel. This eldest daughter in the family started to perform publicly through figure skating at the age of 4, gliding gracefully on ice from one competition to another. However, she later felt that these athletic events ultimately prostrated her nerves, therefore turned her attention to acting. Joining Original Kids Theatre Company in her hometown, she had already taken part in Shakespearean productions at summer theater camp by thirteen.
As she got more interested in acting, especially drama, Rachel was encouraged to enroll in Toronto's York University where she satisfyingly graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater. Setting out to develop an acting career, she earned her first on-screen appearance in an episode of Disney's TV series "The Famous Jett Jackson" (1998-2001) in 2001. Shortly thereafter she immediately obtained a leading role in an unsold TV series pilot entitled "Shotgun Love Dolls" (2001). A few other Canadian productions followed, including "My Name is Tanino" and "Perfect Pie" which both came up in 2002.
Intending to acquire more challenging and bigger roles, Rachel took decision to land her feet on Hollywood. Without any difficulties, she was included in the cast of "The Hot Chick" (2002) as a popular and self-absorbed cheerleader who wakes up one day to find that she has switched bodies with a 30-years-old man. This comedy flick turned out fairly well, thus making people began to take notice on her. However, it wasn't until she starred in "Mean Girls" (2004) that she encountered her big break. Playing alongside Lindsay Lohan, she displayed a brilliant portrayal of a popular but excruciatingly cruel high-school teen named Regina George.
Rachel once more presented an excellent enactment in the adaptation of Nicholas Spark's best-selling novel, "The Notebook" (2004), opposite Ryan Gosling whom she later got romantically linked to. Through this romantic drama, she enhanced her status as a skilled dramatic actress who did not fall into the trap of typecasting. Enjoying success with "The Notebook," her star shone more radiantly by the following year as she teamed up with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in "Wedding Crashers." The hugely praised comedy effortlessly became a box-office hit for it scored a tremendous income of more than 186 million U.S. dollar, and so undoubtedly brought the beauty to larger international popularity.
Still in the year 2005, Rachel boldly turned to thriller genre; this time was under the direction of Wes Craven in "Red Eye" before joining Claire Danes, Sarah Jessica Parker and Diane Keaton to film a romantic comedy entitled "The Family Stone." Looking upon these, it was apparent that this beautiful actress aims to keep exploring film characters by taking different roles. "I want to try a lot of things that I haven't tried," she admitted. "I might go off to do a small independent in New York. I'm not sure. The quality of material is important, but, basically, I'm open to anything. I like to stay open to anything."
Being consistent to this saying, Rachel wisely opted to take part opposite Tim Robbins in "The Lucky Ones" (2008), a bittersweet drama which sees her as one of three injured soldiers who return home from Iraq to see that life has moved on without them. The same year also found her appearing in three star-studded titles of "Married Life", "The Time Traveler's Wife", and "State of Play", a crime drama thriller highlighted by Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Helen Mirren. Amid the success, however, her relationship with Gosling sadly came to an end as the fellow Canadian actor confirmed in the November 2007 issue of GQ that they did split, calling her one of the "loves of his life".
