This Ensemble Has Kept Busy Over the Past Decade

Wow, has it really been 10 years? Happy 10th Anniversary, The Notebook ! You've been making us swoon and openly weep and set unrealistic expectations for our own love lives for a full decade now. Of course, none of that would have been possible without the film's cast. The Nicholas Sparks source material is pretty damn schlocky, but the chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams made it one of the best romance movies of the past ten years. The rest of the Nick Cassavetes-directed ensemble wasn't too shabby, either. Now, Gosling wasn't an Oscar nominee until 2007 for his performance in Half Nelson, but the cast of this 2004 drama already featured four Oscar nominated thespians: Joan Allen, Sam Shepard, Gena Rowlands, and James Garner.

In honor of the ten years since The Notebook hit theaters, the cast has been keeping plenty busy on the big screen since then. (We're keeping this list strictly to their careers, because quite honestly we'd need devote an entirely different post to the off-screen love lives of Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.)

From the fawned-over leads to the impressive supporting cast (don't worry, James Marsden, things pan out for you!) here's where you've seen them since The Notebook.

Ryan Gosling

Where You've Seen Him Since The Notebook: Oh, you mean aside from our dreams? The man who played the dreamy, younger Noah Calhoun has since given an Oscar-nominated performance as a drug-addicted teacher in Half Nelson and Oscar-worthy performances as a socially-stunted man in love with a doll in Lars and the Real Girl, a broken-hearted husband in Blue Valentine, and stoic criminal in both Drive and The Place Beyond the Pines. Other highlights have included his abs in Crazy, Stupid, Love.and a drunk retelling of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas . But even perfect human specimens like Ryan Gosling can have some lows over the course of a decade. Case in point: 2013's back-to-back duds Gangster Squad and Only God Forgives. (Not really though, we can forgive him, too.)

Rachel McAdams

Where You've Seen Her Since The Notebook: After playing the young version of Allie Hamilton, the actress has run the gamut from time-traveling romances (The Time Traveler's Wife, About Time, Midnight in Paris) to dramedies with sucker punch endings (The Family Stone, The Vow) to surprisingly great indie thrillers (Red Eye) to surprisingly disappointing Terrence Malick epics (To The Wonder). Unfortunately, with the exception of her starring turn in the ho-hum comedy Morning Glory, a bona fide star like McAdams has mostly played second fiddle (see: the Sherlock Holmes movies).

James Garner

Where You've Seen Him Since The Notebook: Now, James Garner had an incredible, decades-spanning career that was going strong long before he played the sweet, older version of Noah Calhoun. Sadly, the Oscar-nominated actor and Rockford Files star has endured health problems over the past few years, and with the exception of his appearances on the show 8 Simple Rules and lending his voice to the animated film Battle for Terra, he has sparsely been seen on screen. In 2005, Garner was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.

Gena Rowlands

Where You've Seen Her Since The Notebook: As the older version of Allie Hamilton, younger audiences were introduced to the Oscar-nominated silver screen legend. Since The Notebook, Rowlands has appeared on the big screen in Paris, je t'aime, Broken English, and provided her voice to the Oscar-nominated Persepolis. (Rowlands will also appear in this year's dramedy Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.) On television, she earned an Emmy nod for her guest appearance on Monk.

James Marsden

Where You've Seen Him Since The Notebook: Poor James Marsden didn't get the girl as the kind, but not-the-right-guy Lon Hammond, but he would eventually get the girl in movies like 27 Dresses and on TV, got the ultimate girl Liz Lemon (sorry, Allie) on 30 Rock. Over the past decade, the handsome, seemingly ageless actor has appeared in musicals (Enchanted, Hairspray), superhero sagas (Superman Returns, the X-Men movies), historical dramas (he played President John F. Kennedy in Lee Daniels' The Butler), and hit comedies (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues). James Marsden is so darn likable we're even willing to forget The Box.

Jamie Anne Allman

Where You've Seen Her Since The Notebook: After playing the sad-eyed war widow Martha Shaw that we all felt really bad for (seriously, she was just trying to ease the pain with a handsome guy, but he was still in love with someone else) in The Notebook, Jamie Anne Allman moved on to television, where she's appeared on shows like Monk, The Closer, Covert Affairs, and Bones. But Allen (who was credited as Jamie Brown in The Notebook) has made her biggest mark as the troubled Terry Marek on The Killing.

Kevin Connolly

Where You've Seen Him Since The Notebook: Kevin Connolly got in some good experience playing a hot guy's sidekick in The Notebook as Noah's pal Fin, which paved the way for him to play a hot guy's sidekick for seven seasons on Entourage. He'll reprise his role as the mild-mannered Eric in next year's Entourage movie (oy) but we've also seen Connolly play mild-mannered guys in movies like He's Just Not That Into You. He was also seen in the short-lived show Friends With Better Lives and movies like Secretariat.

Joan Allen

Where You've Seen Her Since The Notebook: As Allie's villainous mother Anne Hamilton, the Oscar-nominated Joan Allen played the baddie again for more action-packed fare like The Bourne Ultimatum and Death Race (go figure). While the actress has been on the big screen since The Notebook, including parts in movies like The Upside of Anger, but she's made her biggest impact on television. In addition to appearing on The Killing and Luck, she earned Golden Globe and Emmy nods for her work in the TV movie Georgia O'Keeffe.

Sam Shepard

Where You've Seen Him Since The Notebook: Like Rowlands, Garner, and Allen, acclaimed actor/director/playwright Sam Shepard gave The Notebook some extra gravitas as Noah's loving, supportive father Frank Calhoun. Over the past ten years Shepard has been part of other praised ensembles including The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Brothers, Killing Them Softly, Mud, Out of the Furnace, and August: Osage County. In 2014, the Oscar-nominated actor was seen in the mini-series Klondike.

Images: New Line Cinema; Getty [10]