“Such a brilliant actress – not like Meryl, but she has that kind of intelligence. That brain is substantial, and if you have that along with a face you can’t take your eyes off, it’s so compelling. It’s rare.” – Diane Keaton on Rachel McAdams

Skater Girl (Early Years)

A competitive figure skater since age 4, McAdams quits at 18 in favor of acting. “Getting up at 5 a.m. was a constant struggle,” she tells Elle. “I hung up my boots and haven’t picked them up since.” That’s not to say she doesn’t miss the sport. “I miss skating,” she tells Parade. “But I used to get so nervous before competitions. I’d wake up in a cold sweat. I don’t miss that.” She later graduates with honors in drama from Toronto’s York University.

Pie in the Sky (2002-2004)

A supporting role in the low-budget film Perfect Pie earns McAdams a Genie Award nomination (Canada’s Oscar), which puts her on the Hollywood radar. She goes on to play a teen who gets stuck in Rob Schneider’s body in The Hot Chick. “It [was] such a strange little entrance to make,” she tells EW. “I guess it could have been an exit as well.”

A Popular Role (2004)

To play Regina George, the cliquey queen bee whose regime is toppled by Lindsay Lohan in the box office hit Mean Girls, McAdams gets a taste of high school high life. “Getting to do it the way the popular girls do it was fun: to layer on makeup and have long, straight platinum-blonde hair,” she tells In Style. “I certainly didn’t look like that in high school.”

She followed Mean Girls with the film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel The Notebook, with Ryan Gosling, with whom she would later begin an off-screen romance. Rachel played Allie Hamilton, counter part to Gosling’s Noah Calhoun. The movie went on to be one of the most beloved love stories of all time. In 2005 the couple won “Best Kiss” at the MTV Movie Awards. Famously, they re-enacted their on screen kiss for the audience. It’s one of the most memorable moments in the networks history and has been viewed more than six million times on Youtube.

Crash Course, Seeing Red & Stone Cold Funny (2005)

McAdams stars opposite Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in the blockbuster Wedding Crashers. “I’d always imagined that once I got to this level, life would somehow become really easy,” McAdams tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s actually the opposite. But I tend to think the complexity is a real blessing in a strange way. The scripts I get are a lot better than they used to be.”

Filming the entire thriller Red Eye inside a plane “was incredibly claustrophobic,” McAdams tells London’s Free Press. “I was literally stuck on the plane for 12 hours every day.” During one fight scene, she accidentally smacked her face into a door. “Yeah, that hurt,” she tells Entertainment Weekly. “I thought, ‘Okay, we’re done. Production ends. It’s over.’ And then I got ice. The Jell-O pop on the fat lip really helped.”

McAdams finishes off a banner year with a delicious role as Sarah Jessica Parker’s soon-to-be sister-in-law in the Christmas comedy The Family Stone, which also stars Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson and Claire Danes. “We had so much fun making it,” McAdams tells Parade. “We joked, ‘We’re having such a good time, it can’t be any good.’ But it was incredible.”

A Time to Chill (2006-2009)

After a busy year, McAdams decides to take most of 2006 for herself, before reporting to the set of the 1940s-era film Marriage in the fall. She returns to Canada for some downtime. “I love being able to come home to a place where no one really cares what you do or who you are, and allows me a break from that life,” she tells the Hollywood Reporter.

McAdams reunited with ex-boyfriend Ryan Gosling, who called her “one of the great loves of my life.” The on-again duo is first spotted at Gosling’s deejay debut in Hollywood and then getting cozy over breakfast in Toronto. But in December, a source told People that the pair split: “He still loves Rachel and Rachel still loves him, but the timing is off and they can’t make each other happy right now.”

After reportedly making out at the Inaugural Purple Ball in Washington D.C. in January, McAdams and new love Josh Lucas go public with their romance. The actor, who previously dated Salma Hayek, is photographed with McAdams in Toronto, before calling it quits by the end of the year.

In 2008 two of Rachel’s film went on to debut. Married Life, The 1940s-set drama where an adulterous man plots his wife’s death instead of putting her through the humiliation of a divorce saw her opposite Patricia Clarkson and Pierce Brosnan.

The Lucky Ones, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival was a story revolving around three soldiers who return from the Iraq War after suffering injuries and learn that life has moved on without them

Golden Girl (2009-Present)

2009 brought a major theatrical return to McAdams. While she had two films released a year earlier, those movies only received small and limited runs in film cinemas and ultimately a good run on DVD. While her next set of roles would get major theatre releases.

She starred in the political thriller State of Play alongside Academy Award winners Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe and Helen Mirren. Production wrapped in April 2008 and the film was released theatrically April 17, 2009.

In the film adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, McAdams stars as the central character opposite Aussie hunk Eric Bana. Although the film is widely panned by critics, the Los Angeles Times says, “McAdams as Rachel is luminous, with a dimple so deep Henry can drown in it.”

In the film adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, McAdams stars as the central character opposite Aussie actor Eric Bana. Although the film is widely panned by critics, the Los Angeles Times says, “McAdams as Rachel is luminous, with a dimple so deep Henry can drown in it.”

In Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, McAdams, as Irene Adler, outwits Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and partner Watson (Jude Law). “You’re not quite sure where she’s coming from or what her intentions are,” she says. “You don’t know whether she’s going to kiss you or kill you.” The movie opens Christmas Day 2009.

Next year will see Rachel reuniting with her Family Stone co-star Diane Keaton in Morning Glory, about a hotshot television producer is set the challenge of reviving a struggling morning show program, despite the constant feuding of its high-profile anchor. The film also stars Harrison Ford and Patrick Wilson.

Rachel McAdams is one of the most in-demand young actresses of her generation. She alludes a magnetic star quality which can not be explained. Beautiful, funny, intelligent and strong willed – never stooping to anyone’s perceptions of what she should be doing in her career. She famously walked of the set of the Vanity Fair cover photoshoot when asked to be photographed nude. While some might not agree with the decision then, the fact that Rachel is carving her own path in Hollywood is more than admirable. Attempting to keep her personal life private and choosing to work with actors and filmmakers she respects than moving from one film to the next, year after year. Building a solid and versatile bevy of characters for herself and maintaining mystery, Rachel McAdams is truly one of a kind.

© Biography from People.com with revisions by Rachel-McAdams.org