Best Known As: The young guy from the movie The Notebook
A specialist in playing troubled young men on the big screen, Ryan Gosling got his start on the Disney television show MMC (the Mickey Mouse Club), alongside Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. From there he worked in television (Breaker High and Young Hercules) until moving into feature films. Gosling received critical raves for his performance as a neo-Nazi in the drama The Believer (2001) and held his own with Don Cheadle and Kevin Spacey in 2003's The United States of Leland. His turn opposite Rachel McAdams in the romance The Notebook (2004, with James Garner) earned him legions of female fans, and his past romances with Rachel McAdams and Sandra Bullock (his co-star in 2002's Murder by Numbers) have kept his name in the gossip columns. In 2005 he co-starred with Ewan McGregor in the psychological thriller Stay (also starring Naomi Watts and Janeane Garofalo), and in 2006 he received an Oscar nomination for his performance in Half Nelson.
Career Highlights: The Believer, Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl
First Major Screen Credit: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - The Academy (1999)
Biography
Despite his confident good looks and his role as the son of Zeus on television's popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Ryan Gosling ironically used to get chuckles by donning a Speedo and flexing like a professional weightlifter as a scrawny six-year-old. Born in London, Ontario, Canada, in November 1980, and raised in nearby Cornwall, Gosling was withdrawn for private schooling early on due to harassment by his classmates. Quickly learning the value of confidence, the bright youngster focused his energy into acting and landed a two-year role on The Mickey Mouse Club at age 12. Soon moving on to television commercials and roles in such films as Disney's Frankenstein and Me (1996), Gosling returned to television in 1997 for the short-lived Breaker High before finding more sturdy television ground in his Hercules role the following year. Since then, the actor has tackled increasingly challenging roles such as his turn as a conflicted Jewish student in The Believer (2001) and as a teen who commits murder in the name of mercy in The United States of Leland (2002). That same year, the increasingly busy Gosling starred in both The Slaughter Rule, and alongside Sandra Bullock in the crime thriller Murder by Numbers.
Though he was racking up credibility as a serious young actor in indie features, Gosling became an unlikely box-office heartthrob with the 2004 summer-season romance The Notebook. Starring opposite another young break-out Canadian actor, Rachel McAdams, Gosling added some depth to the otherwise treacly adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' popular tome of enduring love before and after World War II. Rather than parlay his newfound fame into leading-man action roles, Gosling chose a route not unlike Edward Norton before him, alternating between indie features and challenging, bigger-budget Hollywood productions. This strategy didn't yield great dividends with the spooky 2005 misfire Stay, but it did bring Gosling high praise for the 2006 Sundance Festival favorite Half Nelson. A slice-of-life drama focusing on a young, cocaine-addicted, inner-city middle-school teacher and the student with whom he forms a bond, the film offered Gosling the opportunity to play another intense, conflicted young man in a natural, effortless style, a performance aided in large part by his bracing young co-star Shareeka Epps. Helped by glowing reviews, the micro-budgeted Half Nelson became an arthouse success through awards season, when Gosling's name was mentioned by numerous critics' organizations in year-end honors. Though ignored by the Golden Globes, the dark-horse Gosling was recognized among a formidable group of Best Actors when Oscar nominations were announced. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Ryan Gosling was born in London, Ontario, Canada, and raised in Cornwall, Ontario, the son of Donna, a secretary, and Thomas Gosling, a paper mill worker.[1] His parents divorced when he was young. Gosling dropped out of high school at age seventeen(17). He then moved to New Zealand, where he worked on the series "Young Hercules" for two years, with the company who created "Xena, Warrior Princess". [2]
Gosling has had no formal training as an actor. His fame spread to the United States after he starred in the 2001 controversial drama The Believer, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.[3]
Gosling won the Best Actor category at the Spirit Awards (formerly known as the Independent Spirit Awards) for his role as a drug-addicted, junior high school history teacher in the 2006 film Half Nelson. For the same role he was nominated for an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Broadcast Film Critics Association award as best actor.[4]
On December 25, 2008 Gosling's band Dead Man's Bones released a music video and free download for their song “In The Room Where You Sleep,”[6] and on April 4, 2009, the band released a music video for their song "Name In Stone" on MySpace and YouTube. The self-titled debut album from the band, featuring members of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music's children's choir, is set to be released on October 6, 2009 through ANTI- records.[7]
Gosling divides his time between Toronto, Canada and Los Angeles, USA.[8] Gosling also has several homemade tattoos.[8] He has a dog named George whom he rescued from a kennel in Los Angeles. He is a partner in Beverly Hills restaurant, "Tagine," which specializes in Moroccan cuisine. Gosling endorsed the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. He dated his co-star Rachel McAdams whom he had met while filming The Notebook. They broke up in February 2007. The two later reunited in August 2008 but once again called it quits in November 2008. In December 2008, it was reported that they remain friends.
