Ryan Gosling: Biography

With his assured good looks and his role as the son of Zeus on television's popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, it may seem ironic that as a scrawny six-year-old Ryan Gosling used to get chuckles by donning a speedo and flexing like a professional weightlifter. Born in London, Ontario, Canada, in November of 1980, and raised in nearby Cornwall, Gosling was withdrawn for private schooling early on due to harassment by his classmates. Quickly learning the value of confidence, the bright youngster focused his energy into acting and landed a two-year role on The Mickey Mouse Club at age 12. Moving on to television commercials and roles in such films as Disney's Frankenstein and Me (1996) soon after, Gosling returned to television in 1997 for the short-lived Breaker High before finding more sturdy television ground in his Hercules role the following year. Since then the youthful actor tackled increasingly challenging roles such as his turn as a conflicted Jewish student in The Believer (2001) and as a teen who commits murder in the name of mercy in The United States of Leland (2002). That same year also found the increasingly busy Gosling starring in both The Slaughter Rule and alongside Sandra Bullock in the crime-thriller Murder By Numbers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide