Ryan Gosling was born in London, Ontario, on November 12, 1980 to parents Thomas and Donna Gosling. His father's job as a travelling salesman for a paper mill meant the family - which included older sister, Mandi - moved frequently, until the siblings' parents called quits on the relationship and divorced. After her son was bullied in elementary school, Ryan's mother decided to take him out of the education system in favour of homeschooling.
Ryan Gosling's acting career
The aspiring actor first demonstrated a knack for showbiz when he and Mandi formed a musical partnership to perform at local talent shows. But the break that would set his career on a whole new path came when he auditioned for the Mickey Mouse Club in Montreal. And after Ryan was chosen over 17,000 other hopefuls also desperate to land a place on the Disney show, things began to look up. He spent two seasons on the programme, during which time he lived with Justin Timberlake and his mother. Other TV roles followed, including the short-lived Young Hercules which earned the teen yet more fans. Then, at 17, the budding actor won his first big-screen role, playing a football player in Remember The Titans. It wasn't, however, until he turned in a memorable performance in 2001's The Believer which picked up the grand jury prize at the Sundance film festival that the young actor, then 21, first started to get noticed by movie critics.
The actor then went onto land roles in low-budget films, such as a juvenile delinquent in the 2003 indie flick The United States Of Leland and a drug-addicted teacher in Half Nelson which earned him a 2007 Oscar nomination. More mainstream ventures include the role as a teenage killer in Murder By Numbers opposite Sandra Bullock - whom he dated briefly - and romantic lead in the tear-jerker The Notebook with Rachel McAdams, whom he also dated for two years before briefly reuniting in 2008.
Ryan's notable movie roles include Blade Runner, The Nice Guys, Barbie, The Gray Man, and La La Land, for which he received his second Academy Award for Best Actor nomination.
Ryan Gosling's family life
As for his personal life, Ryan has been in a relationship with his The Place Beyond the Pines co-star Eva Mendes since September 2011. The couple have two daughters, Esmeralda Amada [born in 2014] and Amada Lee [born in 2016].
