Ryan Gosling has been a fixture in Hollywood for years, but his story starts far from the glitz and glam – born on November 12, 1980, in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, he first popped onto TV screens as a fresh-faced kid on Disney Channel’s “The Mickey Mouse Club.” Since then, he’s managed to pull off one of the toughest tricks in showbiz: growing up in public without ever losing that sense of mystery.
For many, Gosling became a household name thanks to “The Notebook,” where his electric chemistry with Rachel McAdams turned Nicholas Sparks’ love story into a modern classic. But he’s never been content to rest on his leading-man laurels. Movies like “Drive,” “Blue Valentine,” and “La La Land” proved he’s just as comfortable playing brooding outsiders or tap-dancing romantics as he is getting drenched in the rain for a kiss.
What a lot of fans don’t know is that Gosling is just as multi-talented behind the scenes. He co-founded a band, Dead Man’s Bones, showing off moody vocals and a taste for the offbeat. And while Hollywood is packed with fame-chasers, Gosling stands out for his ability to keep his personal life almost entirely off the radar.
Finding Love with Eva Mendes
Of all his real-life love stories, Gosling’s relationship with Eva Mendes is the one that’s lasted. They met filming “The Place Beyond the Pines” in 2011 (“the best casting decision of my life,” he once quipped to a journalist), and what started on-screen became very real – very quickly. But unlike so many couples in the industry, Gosling and Mendes have turned low-key privacy into an art form.
No red carpet parade, no Instagram PDA – just the occasional, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to each other in interviews. Together they’re raising two daughters, Esmeralda and Amada, out of the public eye. In a world obsessed with celebrity kids, it’s telling that you’d need a magnifying glass to find a single family photo online – a choice both parents say is about giving their girls as normal a life as possible.
Before Mendes, Gosling had a few headline-making romances. He and Sandra Bullock were a surprise couple back in 2002; the age difference (she was 16 years older) got almost as much press as their movies. Then there was Rachel McAdams – life imitating art, and for two years, they were everyone’s favorite off-screen couple. A brief reunion fueled more rumors, but by 2007 they called it quits for good.
Gosling also sparked speculation with the likes of Blake Lively and Olivia Wilde – fleeting connections, mostly talked about in tabloids rather than confirmed. But for anyone paying attention, it was always clear Gosling preferred to let his work do the talking.
He opened up, ever so slightly, during a 2016 GQ interview: “When someone comes along and sees a deeper beauty in you than you did, and it feels like they know you better than you know yourself, that’s pretty life-changing.” It wasn’t a Hollywood soundbite; it sounded like someone who’d actually learned something about love.
There’s something old-fashioned about the way Gosling approaches relationships – no splashy headlines, no endless new girlfriends on his arm. Even at his most famous, he’s never seemed interested in fame for fame’s sake.
Past Relationships
Christina Hendricks
Eva Mendes
Olivia Wilde
Blake Lively
Casey LaBow
Jaime Murray
Kat Dennings
Rachel McAdams
Famke Janssen
Sandra Bullock
These days, with big projects like “Barbie” and “The Fall Guy,” Gosling’s star keeps rising. But he’s as protective of his family as he ever was, only sharing glimpses of the people he cares about. Maybe that’s why he’s managed to remain both instantly recognizable and tantalizingly out of reach – a heartthrob who keeps his heart, and his life, quietly his own.