Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor who got his start as a Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club in the early 90's before doing several other TV shows. His first major role was the Nicholas Sparks romantic 2004 film The Notebook. It established him as a heartthrob, and over the next few years he drew critical acclaim for his turns as the lead characters in both the offbeat comedy Lars and the Real Girl and the inner-city drama Half Nelson (which received him an Academy Award nomination).
Since then, he has established himself firmly as a powerful dramatic actor, with special mention going to his nameless lead character in the action drama Drive (2011). Also well-known on the Internet for the Feminist Ryan Gosling meme, where someone takes a picture of the man and adds (often pseudo-) feminist text that begins with "Hey girl." note While he's avoided saying anything too specific about the meme, he's allowed the book of it to use his likeness, and honestly his silence is a bit telling. And, according to millions of fans, he's Batman.
He has lived with Cuban-American actress Eva Mendes since 2011, and they have two daughters.
Selected filmography:
As actor:
- The Mickey Mouse Club (1993 — 1995) as himself / various characters
- Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1995) as Jamie Leary note
- Say Cheese and Die! (1996) — as Greg Banks
- Flash Forward (1996) — as Scott Stuckley
- Breaker High (1997 — 1998) as Sean Hanlon
- Young Hercules (1998 — 1999) as Hercules
- Remember the Titans (2000) as Alan Bosley
- The Believer (2001) as Danny Balint
- Murder by Numbers (2002) as Richard Haywood
- The Notebook (2004) as Noah Calhoun
- Stay (2005) as Henry Letham
- Half Nelson (2006) as Dan Dunne note
- Lars and the Real Girl (2007) as Lars Lindstrom
- Fracture (2007) as Willy Beachum
- Blue Valentine (2010) as Dean Pereira
- All Good Things (2010) as David Marks
- Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) as Jacob Palmer
- Drive (2011) as The Driver
- The Ides of March (2011) as Stephen Meyers
- The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) as Luke Glanton
- Gangster Squad (2013) as Sgt. Jerry Wooters
- Only God Forgives (2013) as Julian
- The Big Short (2015) as Jared Vennett
- The Nice Guys (2016) as P.I. Holland March
- La La Land (2016) as Sebastian Wilder note
- Blade Runner 2049 (2017) as Officer K / "Joe"
- First Man (2018) as Neil Armstrong
- The Gray Man 2022 (2022) as Court Gentry
As writer & director:
- Lost River (2014)
Tropes that apply to him:
- Canada, Eh?: He was born and raised in Ontario.
- Fake American: He's Canadian but most of his roles thus far have had him play Americans.
- Meme Acknowledgment: He knows about and enjoys the Vines of him not eating cereal. When the creator of said Vines passed away from cancer, Gosling paid tribute by filming himself finally eating a bowl.
- Mr. Fanservice: Frequently plays strikingly good-looking men.
- Pass the Popcorn: Was famously seen smirking during the infamous La La Land/Moonlight debacle at the Oscars which many fans were quick to notice.
- Perpetual Smiler: Usually has a small smirk in real life.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Has a notably high-pitched scream heard in a good chunk of his movies. This even becomes a Running Gag in the comedy film The Nice Guys.
- The Stoic: Although he can be as expressive as the role calls for, he's often cast as this; and he's not precisely loud himself.
- Those Two Actors: With Emma Stone, they've shared the screen in three movies, always as Love Interests. Stone also put in a cameo when he hosted Saturday Night Live.
- Tranquil Fury: He's a master at getting across explosive rage with barely any changes in his facial expression and without raising his voice.
- What Could Have Been:
- He was approached for the role of the Joker in Suicide Squad before Jared Leto was cast. However, he turned down the offer due to the multi-picture deal the studio was requiring.
- He had discussions with Marvel Studios for the part of Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange before the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch.
- He was originally cast as Jack Salmon in The Lovely Bones, but dropped out of the project a day before shooting began.
