Ryan Gosling

Canadian actor, director, writer and musician. In 1993, at the age of twelve, Gosling attended an open audition in Montreal for a revival of Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club. He was given a two-year contract as a mouseketeer and moved to Orlando, Florida. He appeared on-screen infrequently because other children were considered more talented. Nonetheless, he has described the job as the greatest two years of his life. Fellow cast members included Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and Gosling has credited the experience with instilling in them "this great sense of focus." He became particularly close friends with Timberlake and they lived together for six months during the second year of the show. Timberlake's mother became Gosling's legal guardian after his mother returned to Canada for work reasons. Gosling has said that, while he and Timberlake are no longer in touch, they are still supportive of each other. At the age of eighteen, he moved to New Zealand to film the Fox Kids adventure series Young Hercules (1998–99). While he initially enjoyed working on the series, he began to long for an opportunity to play a variety of characters and decided not to accept any more television work. His first serious role was as a Jewish neo-Nazi in The Believer (2001), and he then built a reputation for playing misfits in independent films such as Murder by Numbers (2002), The Slaughter Rule (2002), and The United States of Leland (2003). Ryan has a daughter, Esmeralda Amada, born 12 September 2014, Santa Monica (CA) with his companion, actress Eva Mendes. Gosling came to the attention of a wider audience in 2004 with a leading role in the romantic drama The Notebook, for which he won four Teen Choice Awards and an MTV Movie Award. His performance as a drug-addicted teacher in Half Nelson (2006) was nominated for an Academy Award and his performance as a socially inept loner in Lars and the Real Girl (2007) was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Also in 2007, he starred in the courtroom thriller Fracture. After a three-year acting hiatus, Gosling starred in Blue Valentine, earning him a second Golden Globe nomination. 2011 proved to be a landmark year for the actor as he appeared in three mainstream films – the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love, the political drama The Ides of March and the thriller Drive – and received two Golden Globe nominations. In 2013, he starred in the period crime feature Gangster Squad, and the generational drama The Place Beyond the Pines, and will next appear in the revenge film Only God Forgives. Gosling's band, Dead Man's Bones, released their self-titled debut album and toured North America in 2009. He is a co-owner of Tagine, a Moroccan restaurant in Beverly Hills, California. He is a supporter of PETA, Invisible Children and the Enough Project and has travelled to Chad, Uganda and eastern Congo to raise awareness about conflicts in the regions. Link to Wikipedia biography