Rachel McAdams playfully roasted by Sam Raimi during her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony

Rachel McAdams was honoured on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as director Sam Raimi blended humour and admiration in his speech.

Rachel McAdams was officially honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday, marking a career defined by versatility, longevity and quietly powerful performances. The ceremony, however, took an unexpectedly playful turn thanks to director Sam Raimi, who delivered a speech filled with affectionate teasing alongside genuine praise.

The Oscar-nominated actor, now 47, was recognised for what Walk of Fame producer Anna Martinez described as “transformative performances that have established her as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after and respected actors.” Before the unveiling of the plaque, Raimi — who directed McAdams in ‘Doctor Strange’ and ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ — took the microphone and immediately set a light-hearted tone.

“In 2001, Rachel made her film debut in ‘Shotgun Love Dolls’,” Raimi said, before joking about her early Hollywood years. He went on to reference her role in ‘The Hot Chick’, deliberately misnaming it as Hot Chicks and calling it “the Citizen Kane of Rob Schneider body-swap movies,” prompting laughter from the crowd.

While acknowledging that the honour was “much deserved,” Raimi continued his roast with a punchline aimed squarely at the star now embedded in the pavement. “Hollywood was a tough place for a young actress. People were mean. They walked all over her,” he said. “After 25 years of superb performances, she’s risen to great heights. And now, thanks to that star, people will once again walk all over her.”

The director also turned the jokes on himself, referencing their upcoming collaboration. “Rachel’s latest film is a thriller called ‘Send Help’, which is also what Rachel said after she found out I was directing,” he quipped, before adding: “As her director, I can honestly say Rachel McAdams is one of the best actors in the movie. There are only two actors in the movie.”

Raimi closed his speech on a sincere note, praising McAdams not only as an actor but as a collaborator and friend. “You are kind, considerate and a real movie star,” he said. “Someone who truly lights up this Hollywood Walk of Fame. You are deeply deserving of this honour, and we all love you.”

Over the years, Rachel McAdams has built an eclectic and enduring filmography, spanning cult comedies such as ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Wedding Crashers’, romantic favourites including ‘The Notebook’ and ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’, and critically acclaimed dramas like ‘Spotlight’, which earned her an Academy Award nomination, and ‘Disobedience’.

Up next, McAdams leads Raimi’s thriller ‘Send Help’, set for release on 30 January, in which she stars as a woman stranded on a deserted island alongside her overbearing boss after a plane crash — a project that reunites actor and director with humour, trust and creative history firmly intact.