Rachel McAdams got her big break in Hollywood when she starred as Regina George in Mean Girls. Even though she didn’t play the lead in that movie, it catapulted her career. She starred in The Notebook next, which solidified her as a serious actress in the industry. From there she has astounded us with her acting ability, starring in movies such as Midnight in Paris, The Vow and Sherlock Holmes. She’s also been on the HBO series True Detective for many years.

McAdams has learned a lot about being in the spotlight, especially since her high-profile relationship with her Notebook co-star, Ryan Gosling. Since the breakup, she has lived a super private life and she doesn’t share a lot of personal details.

She knows how to keep a secret. She kept her pregnancy a secret to the point where people weren’t even sure she was pregnant. Yes, she's got a child, but you're forgiven for forgetting because we don't see her in public with her son much.

Check out these 20 little-known details about the notoriously private Rachel McAdams.

20 She Kept Her Pregnancy A Secret For Months

There was a lot of talk that Rachel McAdams was pregnant, but it was really hard to confirm it. Especially since she was determined to keep the whole thing a secret for months. She is so private that we never caught the actress with her baby bump. It’s amazing how celebrities can basically go into seclusion during pregnancy to avoid the cameras.

E Online reports that Rachel didn't confirm the pregnancy news herself. She made some public appearances in which she was photographed with baggy clothing, and that started to give people the idea that she was pregnant.

19 She Has Been Dating A Screenwriter (In The US)

Rachel has been dating American screenwriter Jamie Linden since 2016 and he fathered her child which she delivered this year. She has been so private about her relationship that the two haven’t even walked the red carpet together!

Linden is responsible for scripts for movies such as We Are Marshall, Money Monster and Dear John. "The money actually helped me stay in California longer than I had planned," he said, according to E Online. "I was applying to grad school and simultaneously writing my first script."

18 She Had Her First Child This Year

After trying so hard to hide her pregnancy, once her son was born Rachel opened up about motherhood.

"It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me, hands down,"

she told The Times. "[People say] your life is not your own anymore. But I had 39 years of me, I was sick of me, I was so happy to put the focus on some other person."

17 She's From Ontario

You might be surprised to learn that Rachel McAdams was raised in St. Thomas, Ontario. She even owned a house in Toronto but has sold it recently. She likes to spend half her time in Canada as her family is there and half the time in the United States.

“I kind of do about half and half, or I’m probably in the States a little bit more now, but I make 10 or 12 trips to Canada [per year],"

she said, as Cineplex reports. "All my family’s there still, but my sister’s in Los Angeles so I started spending more time out there to be with her. I just kind of go where my family is.”

16 Her Sister Works In The Movie Biz As A Makeup Artist

It would be so awesome to have a family member that could also be your makeup artist. McAdams has her own personal makeup artist who has been responsible for a lot of her looks on the red carpet. It's her sister, Kayleen McAdams! As Cineplex reports, Rachel has explained:

“We actually work together quite a bit. She’s an amazing makeup artist and there was just more work for her to do out in L.A. and she met a wonderful man out there who she married.

We do mostly press together, we used to do films together but she prefers more like red carpet, stuff like that, so we do photo shoots, red carpets.”

15 She Worked At McDonald's

We all have to start somewhere and when you are a teen it’s usually in retail or the food industry. Rachel worked at McDonald's for three years and her sister Kayleen was also her manager.

"It was a great place to work, but I had a little bit of an OCD thing with hand washing and just didn't have time,"

Rachel recalls, as reported by Glamour. "They were like, 'Hey, the drive-through's backing up. Stop washing your hands!' I was not a great employee; I broke the orange juice machine one day."

14 She’s A Hopeless Romantic

Rachel is a self-confessed romantic, which is nice to know because we love her in those tear-jerking romcoms!

“I'm a hopeless romantic and I believe that you can find love in many different places and be very conflicted,"

Rachel said in an interview with IGN. "I've discovered as I've grown up that life is far more complicated than you think it is when you're a kid. It isn't just a straightforward fairytale.”

13 Toronto Is One Of Her Favourite Places

A lot of celebrities flock to places where they can be a bit more anonymous. Rachel McAdams is from Canada and she loves Toronto because she can blend in a crowd there and not have to worry so much about the prying cameras. But she also enjoys it immensely.

“It’s a really nice juxtaposition to L.A. because you can get out of your car and get on the street and you’re amongst people and you can get a lot done in a very concentrated area,"

she tells Cineplex. "And I just love the people, I love the food scene, I love the music scene, I love going to the movies. It’s such a great city to watch movies in. I always love when I’m lucky enough to have something in TIFF and I know I’ll get to see all my friends and family and we can go to screenings and, you know, really do it right. It’s one of my most favorite cities.”

12 She Loves Taking A Variety Of Roles

Rachel McAdams is the kind of actress that you can imagine in any role and that’s because she’s managed to be a very diverse actress. She hasn’t just stuck to one type of character or type of movie. She’s been all over the place and that’s probably helped to prevent her from being typecast. “I’d love to say all of it’s by design but probably none of it is [laughing]," she tells Cineplex.

"I guess I love variety, I love diversity of roles, I kind of get bored easily so it’s fun to take on something I haven’t done before, a genre I haven’t dabbled in yet.

I feel like I do better work when I’m a little out of my comfort zone."

11 She’s So Over Dating Her Co-Stars

Lesson learned, but we couldn’t help but love when Rachel was with Ryan Gosling. Dating another actor can make your life far more complicated than it needs to be, though.

"A set may seem like a good place for romance, but I don't think it's very conducive; it's too distracting,"

she tells Glamour. "Every relationship I've had with a coworker has come after the fact because you wind up actually spending a lot of time with those people promoting the movie."

She also dated actor Michael Sheen, with whom she starred in the movie Midnight in Paris, but the relationship ended after two years, Daily Mail reports.

10 Sometimes She Meets Directors Via Skype

Even though she spends half of her time in Canada, this doesn't stop Rachel from clinching movie roles. Thanks to technology, she can still connect with directors via Skype.

"I guess I feel really lucky to have come up at this time when we live in such a global village that you can jump on Skype with a director and have a meeting that way, where you can be in two places at once almost,"

she tells Cineplex. "So, I feel like I haven’t had to give up the place that I loved the most.”

9 She Stalked Someone Before

Let’s be honest, we’ve probably all done it at some point or another. You want to get the attention of the guy you like and you just need to be at the right place at the right time. In other words, you stalk them. Rachel McAdams knows exactly what we are talking about. “The craziest thing I've ever done to get a guy's attention? I admit I stalked someone," Rachel McAdams Online reports the star as saying.

"I showed up at a restaurant where I knew the guy worked, and we were actually good friends and had lost touch, and I pretended that I didn't know he worked there.”

Seems like McAdams is just like every other girl.

8 She Developed A Fear Of Flying

If you ever watched the movie Red Eye, you might understand why Rachel McAdams developed a fear of flying after she starred in the movie.

“You know I never used to be a bad flyer, but I did start to have a fear of flying after I shot a movie where I was terrorized on a plane [when] I made Wes Craven's Red Eye," Rachel told The Scotsman. "I don't think they're linked but it does make me pause and wonder if they are, so perhaps I will explore that in therapy some day.”

7 She Had A Great Childhood

Rachel has stated that her childhood was great and she never thought there was anything missing from it. “I had a lovely childhood," she said, according to Stylist.

"For family holidays, we went as far as the car could take us. We would drive to Florida, even though it would take three days. I didn't know we didn't have a lot of money because there was always food on the table.

I didn't have a lot of stuff, but I did figure skating for a long time, and I always had my skates.”

6 Her Family Reminds Her Of Where She Came From

Hollywood can be all-encompassing and suffocating at times, and there are many celebrities who lose themselves in the industry. Not Rachel. As Cineplex reports, she loves Canada because it's such an inspiring place filled with people who are chasing their dreams and working really hard. But she also seems to love it because it keeps her grounded. "It is easy to just live, eat, breathe, sleep the job there," she says.

"I definitely find that I have more scope and room and fresh air in Canada and back with my family who make sure I remember that I'm just a little Southern Ontario girl, small town girl, you know?"

She's definitely a Canadian girl, through and through.

5 She Is Hoping For A Thundercats Movie

A lot of actors dream of getting a special kind of role. Whether they hope to be Batman one day or some other superhero, they always envision that they might be able to become one of their favourite characters.

Rachel McAdams is hoping that one day they will make a movie about the popular Thundercats cartoon.  “I'm waiting for them to make Thundercats," she said, as reported by Refinery29. "I would love to be Cheetara.”

We would love to see her play that character who's known as the voice of reason of the Thundercats and has amazing speed, as Comic Vine reports.

4 Her Green Lifestyle

Rachel McAdams has her own blog called Green is Sexy. In it, she provides tips for living a greener lifestyle and decreasing one's carbon footprint.

“I look at the world through a green lens now, but you can't make yourself crazy,"

she says, as reported by Pop Sugar. "That feeling of green guilt can be really inhibiting. It's about a changing mindset, [like] remembering to turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth.”

3 She Loves Starring In Comedies

We love Rachel in her comedy roles, so we're glad that she loves taking them.

"I’m endlessly fascinated with comedians and comedic timing and it’s kind of an elusive art form to me so I always feel like it’s good to surround myself with funny people and maybe I’ll pick something up," she told Cineplex. 

2 She Learned A New Skill For A Role

If you are a fan of the HBO series True Detective, you have probably scene the knife fighting scene with Rachel McAdams. Not only does it make her look super cool, but it’s authentic. She underwent intensive training with a martial artist who specialized in prison knife fighting in close quarters for her role.

Rachel told Time Magazine: “In order to be effective with [a knife], you have to get so close to your enemy. It’s just so much different than a firearm.”

1 She Always Knew She Wanted To Be An Artist

Rachel always knew that she wanted to pursue a career in the arts and it certainly worked out for her. “I sort of always had an inkling towards some kind of an art form," she's said, as reported by Rachel McAdams Online.

"I grew up in a very small town, and I just figure-skated. My dad played hockey and I was surrounded by sports, but it wasn't quite doing it for me."

She certainly made the right choice to become an actor!

References: E Online, The Times, Cineplex, Glamour, IGN, Daily Mail

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