Ryan Gosling (The Unauthorised Biography)

Acclaimed for his good looks as much as his searing acting ability, Canadian actor Ryan Gosling first came to attention, aged 12, as a Mouseketeer in Disney's Mickey Mouse Club. After the show ended, Ryan spent his teenage years acting in television, landing the lead role in the TV show Young Hercules. Wanting to move into film, he made his feature debut in Remember the Titans, found acclaim in The Believer, and landed a major role alongside Sandra Bullock in Murder By Numbers. The 2004 hit The Notebook was so romantic that Ryan and his co-star, Rachel McAdams, ended up falling in love off-screen as well. The film turned Ryan into a Hollywood pin-up, after which he spent six months working in an L.A. sandwich shop, to regain a sense of perspective. He has since played one challenging role after another, in films such as Stay, Half Nelson, and Lars and the Real Girl, while inching towards mainstream success with acclaimed performances in films like Blue Valentine, Drive, Crazy Stupid Love, and Gangster Squad. Enigmatic and humble, with a legendary compulsion to lose himself in every role he takes on, this is the story of an actor who is incredibly close to his mother, plays in a band, co-owns a Moroccan restaurant in Beverly Hills, laughs off those who tag him a sex symbol, and shrugs at the widespread conviction that he's this generation's Marlon Brando.