Mad About Ryan

Ryan Gosling is celebrating his  31st birthday this weekend. I've raved about him a lot lately (here and here), but let's get into it once more.

After the Mickey Mouse Club, Ryan got a few gigs on kid television shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark, Flash Forward, and Goosebumps. Then he got starring roles on the TV series Breaker High and Young Hercules. The first movie I remember him in was Remember the Titans. You’ve seen this part, right?

(skip to 1:25)

He was really, really great in these:

But this is where I first noticed him:

Remember when he was dating Sandra Bullock?

And of course, we all fell in love with him here:

He secured a spot on my favorite actors list when I saw Lars and the Real Girl. This is my absolute favorite Ryan Gosling movie and it's also in my top ten movies of all time. If you haven't seen this WATCH IT NOW! It's an unusual, depressing, inspiring, heartbreaking, funny, prefect movie that everyone should see to teach us all a lesson in tolerance and humanity.  Just have a box of tissues nearby.

When I was looking up his movies, I realized I’ve seen every single one. He’s been in some pretty great films.

He can literally do no wrong in my book. He’s brilliant. Every single character he’s played is perfection. He’s going to be around for a long, long time and he’ll be one of the greats, I just know it. But as much as I love him, it’s really hard for me to have a crush on him because he looks and acts just like my brother, down to the blank stares and lazy eye! My brother is cute, but I can’t crush on someone like him! I still love him and think he’s one of the most talented actors out there.

Up next for Ryan is The Place Beyond the Pines, a crime drama set to be released in 2013. Ryan plays Luke, a motorcycle stuntman who becomes a thief in order to provide for his wife (Eva Mendes) and son, which puts him on a collision course with cop-turned-politician, Bradley Cooper. He’s not looking so hot in this film!

Right now he’s filming Gangster Squad, another crime drama set to be released next fall. He plays an LAPD detective fighting to keep the mob out of LA in the ‘50s. Emma Stone plays his love interest and other stars include Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Giovanni Ribisi, Nick Nolte, Josh Pence and Michael Peña.

And guess what he’s scheduled to film next? Oh. A crime drama! Only God Forgives takes place in Bangkok. It’s about a retired police lieutenant and Ryan’s character, a lifelong British criminal, who settle their differences in a Thai-boxing match. It was written and will be directed by Nicolas Winding Refn who directed Drive. They’re also rumored to be working together on a remake of Logan’s Run.

He's accomplished so much in 31 years! I can't wait to see what he does next.