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 Born in London, Ontario, Canada, in November 1980, and raised in nearby Cornwall, Gosling was withdrawn for private schooling early on due to harassment by his classmates.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 and raised in London, Ontario, Canada the son of Donna, a secretary, and Thomas Gosling, a paper mill worker.[1] His parents, who were Mormons,[2] divorced when he was young.[3] He had difficulty in school and often engaged in verbal and physical fights with fellow students. On an appearance on the late night Canadian talk show Open Mike with Mike Bullard, Gosling told of how he was bullied in elementary school (he attended East Front Public School in Cornwall). His mother withdrew him from school and taught him at home when he was 10.[4] While Gosling's mother was Mormon, he was not raised in a strictly devout household and never really identified with Mormonism.[5] After returning to the public system, he went to Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School. The family then relocated to Burlington, Ontario, where Ryan attended Lester B. Pearson High School (Burlington). Gosling dropped out at age seventeen.[6]
In preparation for his role as Dan Dunne, a drug-addicted, junior high school history teacher in the 2006 film Half Nelson, Gosling moved to Brooklyn, shadowed a middle school teacher, and studied the Civil Rights Movement (a subject with which his character is fascinated).[6] In March 2007, Gosling won the Best Actor category at the Spirit Awards (formerly known as the Independent Spirit Awards) for his role in the movie. 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.[10]
Gosling starred in the film Fracture alongside Anthony Hopkins. He was to begin filming for The Lovely Bones in October 2007, but was replaced by Mark Wahlberg.[11][12] It was subsequently reported that director Peter Jackson fired him because he was "too demanding."[13] A few days later, however, Gosling denied these claims, explaining that his young age was behind the decision to replace him in the film. He said, "The age of the character versus my real age was always a concern of mine. Peter and I tried to make it work and ultimately it just didn't. I think the film is much better off with Mark Wahlberg in that role. Peter Jackson is an incredible filmmaker and I'm here to tell you that he has things up his sleeve that are going to blow people's minds. I'm going to be the first person in line to buy tickets."[14] In 2007, Gosling was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[15][16]
Gosling made a surprise cameo appearance onstage at the Sacred Fools Theatre in Hollywood in the serialized play Darque Magick from writer/director Jenelle Riley. For months, the lead character in Darque Magick had been making references to his obsession with Gosling, finally culminating in the actor appearing in a videotaped plea for the character to return his dog.[17]
Gosling divides his time between Toronto, Canada and Los Angeles, USA.[3] Gosling also has several homemade tattoos.[3] 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.
He has been in two relationships with co-stars - first with actress Sandra Bullock in Murder by Numbers and then with his The Notebook co-star, fellow Londonite Rachel McAdams, but Gosling announced their breakup in the November 2007 issue of GQ.[20]The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes had previously said that he was surprised to see the two together, as they argued a lot on the set of The Notebook. [21] In 2008, Gosling and McAdams were seen embracing each other at a restaurant near McAdams' Toronto home but called it quits soon after.
