Date of Birth

12 November 1980, London, Ontario, Canada

Birth Name

Ryan Thomas Gosling

Nickname

Opie

Height

6' 1" (1.85 m)

Mini Biography

Ryan Gosling was born on November 12, 1980, in London, Ontario, to Thomas and Donna Gosling, and was the second of their two children. The Gosling family, who are Mormon, moved to Cornwall, Ontario, where Ryan grew up and was home-schooled by his mother. Ryan attended Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational High School in Cornwall, where he excelled in Drama and Fine Arts. The family then relocated to Burlington, Ontario, where Ryan attended Lester B. Pearson High School in Burlington, Ontario.

Ryan first performed as a singer at talent contests with his older sister Mandi. He attended an open audition in Montreal for the TV series "The Mickey Mouse Club" ("MMC" (1989)) in January 1993 and beat out 17,000 other aspiring actors for a a spot on the show. While appearing on "MMC" for two years, he lived with co-star Justin Timberlake's family.

Though he received no formal acting training, after "MMC," Gosling segued into an acting career, appearing on the TV series "Young Hercules" (1998) and "Breaker High" (1997), as well as the films The Slaughter Rule (2002), Murder by Numbers (2002), and Remember the Titans (2000). He first attracted serious critical attention with his performance as the Jewish neo-Nazi in the controversial film The Believer (2001), which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. He was cast in the part by writer-director Henry Bean, who believed that Gosling's strict Mormon upbringing gave him the insight to understand the character Danny, whose obsessiveness with the Judaism he was born into turns to hatred. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award as Best Male Lead in 2002 for the role and won the Golden Aries award from the Russian Guild of Film Critics.

After appearing in the sleeper The Notebook (2004) in 2004, Gosling won the dubious honor of being named one of the 50 Hottest Bachelors by People Magazine. More significantly, he was named the Male Star of Tomorrow at the 2004 Show West convention of movie exhibitors.

Gosling reached the summit of his profession with his performance in Half Nelson (2006), which garnered him an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. In a short time, he has established himself as one of the finest actors of his generation.

Trivia

Is an accomplished jazz guitarist.

Parents: Thomas & Donna.

Has an older sister named Mandi.

First break came in January 1993 when open auditions were held in Montreal for "MMC" (1989).

Ryan went to Lester B. Pearson High School in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

Was taken out of elementary school as a child and taught at home by his mother because of constant abuse from other students.

He has a dog named George.

Dated Murder by Numbers (2002) co-star Sandra Bullock (2002-2003).

Built the kitchen table featured in The Notebook (2004) in preparation for his role as Noah.

Was named one of People Magazine's 50 Hottest Bachelors [2004]

While on "MMC" (1989), he lived with Justin Timberlake and his mother.

Purchased the Jeep Cherokee driven by Ben Chaplin in Murder by Numbers (2002) from the set of the movie.

Favorite movie is East of Eden (1955)

Enjoys Jazz and Chet Baker.

Keeps in touch with his "Breaker High" (1997) co-star Scott Vickaryous.

Beat out 17,000 people for a place in "MMC" (1989) in January 1993

His favourite actor is Gary Oldman.

He was named the 2004 Sho West Male Star of Tomorrow

Born in London, Ontario, and moved soon after to Cornwall, Ontario, where he was raised. Then moved to Burlington, Ontario, during his high school years.

Born in the same hospital as his The Notebook (2004) co-star Rachel McAdams -- St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario -- though he's younger.

Has released a song titled "Put Me in the Car," which can be found on his Web site.

With two of his friends, he has opened a Moroccan restaurant called Tagine in Beverly Hills, California.

Met his girlfriend, Rachel McAdams, on the set of The Notebook (2004).

In school, his nickname was Trouble.

He moved to Los Angeles when he was 16.

Took his mother and his sister to the Oscars in 2007.

Traveled to Chad in 2005 to make a documentary on the Darfur refugees living there.

One of 115 people invited to join AMPAS in 2007.

Lives in the popular Los Angeles neighborhood of Silverlake. Other Silverlake locals include Beck, Bo Barrett, Christina Ricci, Rachel McAdams, and Jason Lee.

Is a big fan of Gene Wilder.

Was the first Canadian born performer in over 60 years to be nominated for the best actor Oscar in 'Half Nelson' (2006). The last was Walter Pidgeon for 'Madame Curie' (1943).

Split with Rachel McAdams. [Mid-2007]

Was originally cast in The Lovely Bones (2009) as Jack Salmon, but pulled out of the project a day before shooting began despite gaining 20 pounds of weight and growing a beard.

Was ranked #23 on Entertainment Weekly's '30 Under 30' the actors list. (2008).

Personal Quotes

I've learned it's important not to limit yourself. You can do whatever you really love to do, no matter what it is.

I always wanted to entertain. When I was 6, a scrawny, scrawny kid, I'd get in my red speedo and do muscle moves. I actually thought I was muscular. I didn't know everyone was laughing at me.

You know how sometimes department stores have these things where, if you win, you get 10 minutes and go in and take anything you want from the store? That's basically what I'm doing. I'm running in and just trying to grab as many characters as possible before they pull the plug on me.

It's nice to be around people that have a sense of the world around them, that are, in general, more conscious and conscientious. It was important for me to get an outside look at America even though I grew up in Canada, it's an incredible country and I love it, but it's so close. It's like being too close to a Monet or something. You have to move back. Going to New Zealand helped me to get a read on this place that the whole world was obsessed with.

I also think that something interesting comes out when you do something that you're afraid of, so I try to take things that I'm not sure that I can do. And this was certainly one of them. I didn't feel like I was right for this at all, and I wondered how to find truth in a fairy tale.

For now, I'm just going to keep doing the work and hope I don't get fired. If people want to put me up on their walls, I'll love it.

I think American news is pretty tragic in general. I can't tell the difference between "Entertainment Tonight" (1981) and the news. It's all about ratings. They are trying to sum it all up pretty quickly and try to act as if they understand it.

The theme for me is love and the lack of it. We all want that and we don't know how to get it, and everything we do is some kind of attempt to capture it for ourselves.

I understand the studios, in the sense that if they're going to spend $100 million on a film, they want to make sure they're gonna get that back . . . but I don't know how to guarantee you you're going to make that money back, and I'm uncomfortable working with those kind of numbers.

There is this idea in Hollywood, and I've seen it work for people, where the unspoken rule is 'Do two for them and one for yourself.' And that's kind of considered a fact. I've never really found that to be true for me. I've gotten more opportunities out of working on things I believed in than I ever did on things that weren't special to me.

All my characters are me. I'm not a good enough actor to become a character. I hear about actors who become the role and I think 'I wonder what that feels like'. Because for me, they're all me. I relate to these characters because aspects of their personality are like me. And I just turn up the parts of myself that are them and turn down the parts that aren't.

(On this acting hero) Gene Wilder is my Marlon Brando. Gene Wilder will break your heart and make you laugh at the same time. And that's deep. There's something really profound about what he's able to do. It's transcendent. It's everything. He gives you everything at once and you have to decide what you feel about it.

I mean, God bless The Notebook, it introduced me to one of the great loves (Rachel McAdams) of my life. But people do Rachel and me a disservice by assuming we were anything like the people in that movie. Rachel and my love story is a hell of a lot more romantic than that.

Where Are They Now

(August 2004) He and Benicio Del Toro are making tentative plans to visit the jungle in Bolivia, to learn a few survival skills first-hand for Guerrilla (2008) (aka "Che").

~ Updated: 2008-09-02 ~