10 reasons to love Ryan Gosling

He’s cool, kooky and stylishly clad. He’s a Hollywood heart throb who’s won awards for kissing and does good works for humanity. Here’s why we’re slowly and deeply falling in love with Ryan Gosling. By Peggy Nuttall

He loves his mum

30-year-old Ryan Gosling was single-handedly raised by his secretary mother, Donna, in Ontario, Canada. He was bullied at school and admits to having had ‘no pals’, so after a time his mum took him out of the system and home-educated him.

Nowadays, Gosling is rarely seen in attendance at red carpet dos without his glam mum, and while she may struggle to watch him embody some less palatable characters – ‘My poor mother, she doesn't ask questions any more,’ - she is very firmly by her son’s side. Ain’t it nice to see!
He also loves his sister

Ryan Gosling started performing at a young age and his older sister, Mandy, was vey much in on the act - they used to sing together at weddings and in talent contests. Just like her mother, Mandy can now be regularly seen in the tight protective clench of her brother on the red carpet, making premieres a true family affair.
He’s ever so deep

‘The theme for me is love and the lack of it. We all want that and we don't know how to get it, and everything we do is some kind of attempt to capture it for ourselves.’

We’re right here Ryan! *waves*
He supports good causes

Ryan supports numerous good causes but has worked particularly closely with the Enough Project which was created to end genocide and crimes against humanity, focusing on Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – which Ryan visited in 2010.

'For some reason, there's an interest in what people who do what I do have to say...I'm honored to have these experiences,’ he says, modestly.

He was also Hollywood's representative at the Campus Progress Nationa Conference in 2008 where he spoke out about Darfur.

He also owns, and single-handedly runs, a rescue home for puppies, kittens and bunny rabbits. OK, that’s not true.
He dresses like a sexed-up Buddy Holly

He has a weird accent (and no, it’s not just Canadian) and he’s played a drug addict teacher (Half Nelson), a blank-faced sociopath (Drive) and blow-up doll obsessive (Lars and the Real Girl).

Our Ryan’s clearly a little off-beat, and we love how his style reflects his idiosyncratic persona in stylish fashion. He can be regularly seen sporting 50s style tuxedo jackets that you could imagine your parents might have worn to highschool dances, if they were American.

And yet, he manages to look impossibly hot.
He is universally loved by the ladies

The pictures speak for themselves: Mr Gosling is a babe magnet. Rachel McAdams had him all to herself between 2005 and 2008, when she and Ryan got together onset for The Notebook. Before that he even had a brief fling with Sandra Bullock.

Ryan's been dating his The Place Beyond the Pines co-star Eva Mendes since September 2011 and, despite the occasional, obligatory celeb break-up rumour, the ridiculously sexy pair seem very much in love. Which is nice, we suppose...
He’s musical

Believe it or not, Gosling is part of the Mickey Mouse Club alumni, along with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. He even lived with Timberlake for a couple of years.

While acting is his ‘thing’, he’s also an accomplished jazz guitarist and he’s even released a single – Put Me in the Car with his band Dead Man's Bones.

We've seen him improvising a song on the ukulele to woo a lady at the beginning of Blue Valentine, but we’ve yet to see his musical prowess out in full force on the big screen.
He chooses good roles

We imagine that LA’s hottest new thing probably has the pick of the roles by now, but Gosling has thus far managed to resist the allure of the big budget block busters.

First there was The Believer in which he plays an Orthodox Jew Neo Nazi, then there was Lars and the Real Girl in which he plays a loner in love with a blow-up doll. Following that, his role in love flick Blue Valentine uncomfortably countered anything you’d see in a cosy romcom.

‘I feel that independent films tend to ask more questions and don't pretend to know as much as the bigger films, which tend to think they know everything.’ He says.
He’s a good kisser…

…by the looks of things.

Gosling won the MTV movie award for Best Kiss with Rachel McAdams in The Notebook in 2004. They confirmed to the world that they were a real life couple when they reinacted the scene on collecting the award (left).

Then there’s that scene in Drive when he spontaneously grabs Carey Mulligan’s character Irene for a slow mo smooch in a lift. If you haven’t seen it yet, we recommend you cover your eyes for the remainder of the scene. Talk about killing the moment.
He’s into ghosts

Gosling has always been into the supernatural and in 2005 his obsession with ghosts led him to kindred spirit Zach Shields, with whom he formed band Dead Man’s Bones, and together they write songs about ghosts and monsters.

In a photoshoot for Esquire magazine, Gosling was captured in various poses with a female skeleton-cum-ghost-type figure.

That was his idea, apparently.
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