https://www.maximotv.com Full speech by actress Rachel McAdams at the ceremony where she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at 6922 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, USA. #rachelmcadams
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00:00All right, on behalf of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, it is my honor and
00:07pleasure to declare today, Rachel McAdams Day in Hollywood!
00:15My pleasure.
00:25Wow, thank you. I am so overcome by the generosity here today.
00:33I'd like to thank Disney and 20th Century Studios and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
00:39Thank you, Janelle and Steve, for your kind words.
00:43And thank you to Donal Gleason, Dylan O'Brien, and Sam Raimi, the master.
00:51Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to be here today.
00:55Sam and Dylan, I saw that you have a new movie coming out.
00:59I'm really excited to see it.
01:07Still in character.
01:09Okay, so you are three of the hardest working and kindest people in Hollywood.
01:17Donal, you were easily one of the loveliest fake husbands I have ever had.
01:23Dylan, you have been without a doubt the best worst boss I have ever had.
01:29And Sam, you are definitely the nicest person to have ever thrown buckets of blood straight in my mush.
01:39Your words.
01:41You were grinning both paternally and maniacally every time you did it,
01:46which is a super confusing feeling, but that's Hollywood, right?
01:51So, speaking of Hollywood, when I was about eight years old, growing up in tiny little St. Thomas, Canada,
02:01I wrote my parents a very desperate letter asking them to figure out how to fulfill my greatest dream,
02:09to be on Ed McMahon's Star Search.
02:13They were, of course, incredibly supportive.
02:27I do want to freeze time for a second because you only get a few of these moments in life
02:34to thank you on the stage for everything.
02:39All of it.
02:43All of it is because of you and the love you gave us and the beautiful childhood you gave us
02:55and for believing in me long before I could grasp how to believe in myself.
03:00I love you so much. Thank you.
03:02Okay, so back to Ed McMahon's impossibly high standards for tiny children.
03:14So while my parents were incredibly supportive, they were also incredibly confused by this request of mine
03:22because I couldn't dance, I couldn't sing, I couldn't twirl a baton, I couldn't put my legs behind my head, I couldn't do anything really at eight.
03:36I figure skated. That's what I could do, but there wasn't a figure skating category.
03:41So I had none of the skills that Star Search was searching for.
03:46So as much as I wanted to be a little star for Ed McMahon, eight year old me, let that dream fly out the window.
03:53But then a few years later, my parents, thank you once again, let me join a children's theater camp.
04:01And that's where I found my real tribe and my true dream.
04:06I'm very lucky to have four of my fellow camp thespians here today.
04:18My writer dies.
04:21Feels like yesterday we were playing impish fairies, murderous juvenile delinquents, aging prostitutes,
04:29and tragic Shakespearean men together.
04:35It was one of the most joyful times of my life.
04:38So much so that theater camp turned into theater college, because that's a good bet.
04:45I'm staying employed.
04:47But it was just as magical a place.
04:50There I found teachers, fellow students, a larger tribe, a group of dreamers that made my life feel so very alive.
04:58Including my dear friend and great collaborator, Dwayne Murray.
05:02You are a gift from heaven.
05:05My greatest collaborator.
05:06And I cannot imagine the terrible mistakes I would have made in my career and the many roles I took on were it not for your beautiful guidance and mentorship.
05:21Thank you so much.
05:22I would like to make a special shout out to my manager, Shelley Browning, the hardest working woman in Hollywood.
05:38You changed the trajectory of my life, inviting me to Hollywood based on one tiny little tape.
05:45You let me stay in your guest room for months on end so I didn't have to stay at the Oakwood Apartments.
05:51And printed countless MapQuest maps for me to get to audition since I was without a cell phone, a GPS or any real sense of direction.
06:01It's an affliction I still suffer from and you're still helping me out with that.
06:07You are my ways now.
06:09Thank you for fighting the good fight for me for the last 20 plus years.
06:22What all those experiences and all of these people made me realize is I didn't actually need to be a star.
06:29What I needed to be was a working actor.
06:32And for the past 25 plus years, I've been very lucky to do that.
06:37And for that, I am so, so very grateful and so fortunate.
06:42And lastly, I'd like to thank the stars up above.
06:46Down here.
06:48The legendary working actors who I was given the great gift to learn from.
06:53The ones who are no longer with us.
06:56To name a few.
06:57The pioneering Jenna Rollins.
07:00The prolific Sam Shepard.
07:02And my beloved Diane Keaton.
07:08Who took me under her wing like I was her own daughter.
07:12She taught me that no matter how long you've been doing this, you have to leave everything you've got on the table.
07:18Each performance, you must muster up as much love as you possibly can.
07:23And then you'll only feel like a dumb dumb idiot half the time in life.
07:28And to all my own stars down here.
07:31To my colleagues.
07:32My dear friends.
07:33The rest of my family who came from far and wide to be with me today.
07:37From every chapter of my life.
07:39Who've always kept my feet firmly planted on the ground.
07:42And never let me float too far out of orbit.
07:45It seems silly to just have my name on here.
07:49So I share this little piece of earth with all of you.
07:55To Jamie, my North Star.
07:57Kayleen, my other North Star.
07:59Thank you for being such a great team and keeping me quasi-normal.
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