Listen to this article
Estimated 4 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Canadian actress Rachel McAdams became the latest star to land a spot onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday.
McAdams, 47, was inducted in Los Angeles with her family, partner and co-stars by her side and, in her speech, nodded to her humble beginnings in St. Thomas, Ont., south of London.
“Growing up in tiny little St. Thomas, Canada, I wrote my parents a very desperate letter asking them to figure out how to fulfil my greatest dream, to be on Ed McMahon’s Star Search” — a TV talent show that aired in the 1980s.
“They were of course, incredibly supportive,” she said.
“What all those experiences and all of these people made me realize is I didn’t actually need to be a star. What I needed to be was a working actor. And for the past 25-plus years I’ve been very lucky to do that. And for that, I am so very grateful and so fortunate.”
McAdams has been a big name on the big screen for decades, known for her breakout roles in 2004’s Mean Girls and The Notebook. At age 12, she began her acting career at the Original Kids Theatre Company in London.
Most recently in 2024, she made her Broadway debut in Mary Jane, written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog and directed by Anne Kaufman. Her performance landed her a Tony nomination and a Theatre World Award, among others.
McAdams thanked her loved ones and colleagues she worked with throughout the years for their support. She gave a special, emotional tribute Diane Keaton, her co-star in 2005’s The Family Stone, who McAdams said “took me under her wing like I was her own daughter.”
“She taught me that no matter how long you’ve been doing this, you have to leave everything you’ve got on the table,” McAdams said.
“Each performance you must muster up as much love as you possibly can, and then you’ll only feel like a dumb, dumb idiot half the time in life.” Keaton died in October at the age of 79.
‘Stays faithful to her zeal’
London actor and acting coach Jim Schaefer has fond memories of his time working with McAdams at Original Kids for three summers in a row in both London and St. Thomas. It came as no shock to Schaefer when she was named to the Walk of Fame last summer.
“Well it’s about time,” he told CBC Radio’s Afternoon Drive in July when he heard McAdams was going to receive the star.
“I’ve certainly enjoyed her work in movies and in her work on stage, way back in the ’90s, so it’s wonderful to see that she stayed with it and she got lucky, but also lots of hard work to get where she is.”
Afternoon Drive6:44Hollywood actress Rachel McAdams got her start in St. Thomas
From the stage in St. Thomas to the Hollywood screen, Rachel McAdams has been named one of the Hollywood Walk of Fame Class of 2026. London actor Jim Schaefer recalls his time working with her at Original Kids Theatre Company in St. Thomas and London.
Schaefer described McAdams as being “head and shoulders above anybody else we worked with,” admiring her instinct, impulse and imagination as an actor.
“I told her to try to stay faithful to her zeal, she had zeal even back then. She wanted to go further, and she certainly did … she was sought after.”
Others who shared their excitement for McAdams were director Sam Raimi and actor Domhnall Gleeson who starred with her in the 2013 film About Time.
“You’re a phenomenal actor. Every word you utter seems profoundly true and connected and I have witnessed that up close,” Gleeson said in his speech.
McAdams is set to star in Raimi’s next film Send Help opposite Dylan O’Brien which will release on Jan. 30.
