Biography

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.