THN Count 5 Reasons Why We Love Ryan Gosling

Mr Ryan ‘Swoon’ Gosling, the man who was set out to be a star at the tender age of 8 while singing ballads in the Mickey Mouse Club and crashing at Justin Timberlake’s house. We all knew he was going to be famous, but it took him a while to reach the status of making all men and woman feel in one way or other drawn to him. As he returns in ONLY GOD FORGIVES with DRIVE writer and director Nicolas Winding Refn, we at THN are not immune to the Gosling charm and here are our top 5 reasons why we love The Gos – the non-pervy edition.

1. TRIPLE THREAT
He can sing, he can dance and he can act. The Mousketeer made a name for himself by singing 8o’s ballads on the Mickey Mouse Club. He and buddy Zach Shields also sing in their own band called Dead Man’s Bones where Gosling and Shields explore their morbid side and devote their unique music style to death, zombies and anything macabre. The singing voice of RyRy can be described as “goofy” which is also how he describes his character’s singing in BLUE VALENTINE

2. THE ROLES
Many actors have to work themselves up to the lead role, sharing the spotlight until they’ve made themselves worthy of a main protagoniast role. But not our Ryan; he went from the lead in a TV show onto the lead of a shower scene in REMEMBER THE TITANS, to the lead in THE BELIEVER. Even in GANGSTER SQUAD Gosling shone in the ensemble cast. Our leading man has evidently never wanted to please anyone and has proven himself while playing a drug-addicted teacher in HALF NELSON, a suicidal poet in STAY and I’ll even forgive him for saying “I wrote you 365 letters. I wrote you everyday for a year” to Rachel Adams in THE NOTEBOOK – the most cringeworthy film known to man, but if Gosling isn’t apologising for it, I won’t hold a grudge. Thanks to THE NOTEBOOK, Gosling went on to invent the best kiss ever at the MTV Movie Awards which so many Best Kiss winners have tried to replicate…and failed.

3. THE INTERVIEWS
Very few actors can live up to the personality we create for them but Ryan is one who does not disappoint. Thanks to his complete refusal to believe the Gos hype, his honest tale-telling and his charm, we can justify the our obsession. He has shared his girl scout shopping spree story on Conan, his onesie obsession with Ellen, his goofy singing on Kimmel and he even makes a shy audience member speak for him on the Conan O’Brien show. Have a look and tell us it doesn’t make you smile.

4. THE MEMES
Which came first? The Gosling obsession or the Gosling memes – it’s hard to tell. Ryan won’t eat his cereal, Ryan’s motivating work out memes and then of course there’s the Hey Girl memes. With Ryan Gosling you know you’re getting more than a pretty face and a nice personality, you’re getting boyfriend material and the loyal good guy thrown in as well. Check out this amazing moment when Ryan reads out some of the Hey Girl phrases that went viral.

5. THE SKINNY HERCULES
Ryan Gosling played a skinny Young Hercules and he made it work.  Hercules, the son of Zeus. Strong, brave, clever and…big. Except Gosling wasn’t big at all but he still managed to portray a hunky demi-god in the TV show. If you’re not familiar with the series, have a look at the intro to give you an idea of the style of it.