2000–2003: Independent films Aged 19, Gosling decided to move into "serious acting". He was dropped by his agent and initially found it difficult to secure work because of the "stigma" attached to children's television. After a supporting role in the football drama
Remember the Titans, he secured a lead role as a young Jewish
neo-Nazi in 2001's
The Believer. Director
Henry Bean said he cast Gosling because his Mormon upbringing helped him understand the isolation of Judaism. Kevin Thomas of the
Los Angeles Times praised an "electrifying and terrifyingly convincing" performance while
Todd McCarthy of
Variety felt his "dynamite performance" could "scarcely have been better". The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the
Sundance Film Festival and Gosling has described it as "the film that kind of gift-wrapped for me the career that I have now." and the film was instead broadcast on
Showtime. In 2002, Gosling co-starred in the psychological thriller
Murder by Numbers with
Sandra Bullock and
Michael Pitt, where Gosling and Pitt portrayed a pair of high school seniors who believe they can commit the perfect murder. Bullock played the detective tasked with investigating the crime.
Lisa Schwarzbaum of
Entertainment Weekly described him as "a phenomenal talent even in junk like this" while Todd McCarthy felt that the "strong and "charismatic" young actors were "let down by the screenplay". The film was a minor commercial success, grossing $56 million worldwide from a production budget of $50 million. His second screen appearance of 2002 was in
The Slaughter Rule with
David Morse which explores the relationship between a high school football player and his troubled coach in rural
Montana. Gosling has said that the opportunity to work with Morse made him "a better actor".
Stephen Holden of
The New York Times described Gosling as "major star material" with a "rawness and an intensity that recall the young
Matt Dillon" while
Manohla Dargis of the
Los Angeles Times was won over by his "raw talent". The film was released in just three US theatres and grossed $13,411. In 2003, Gosling starred in
The United States of Leland as a teenager imprisoned for the murder of a disabled boy. He was drawn to the role because it was unusual to find a character that was "emotionally disconnected for the whole film." Critic
Roger Ebert felt that the "gifted actor does everything that can be done with Leland, but the character comes from a writer's conceits, not from life."
A. O. Scott of
The New York Times noted that he "struggles to rescue Leland from the clutches of cliché" while David Rooney of
Variety felt that his "one-note, blankly disturbed act has none of the magnetic edge of his breakthrough work in
The Believer". The film grossed $343,847 in the United States and was not released overseas.
2004–2009: The Notebook and Half Nelson Gosling gained mainstream attention in 2004 after starring opposite fellow Canadian
Rachel McAdams in the romantic drama film
The Notebook, a film adaptation of
Nicholas Sparks'
novel of the same name, directed by
Nick Cassavetes. Gosling played Noah Calhoun and commented on the role: "It gave me an opportunity to play a character over a period of time – from 1940 to 1946 – that was quite profound and formative." He sought to imbue his character with "quiet strength" and was inspired by
Sam Shepard's performance in
Days of Heaven. Shepard co-starred in
The Notebook. Filming took place in
Charleston, South Carolina, in late 2002 and early 2003. Although Gosling and McAdams became romantically involved in 2005, they had a combative relationship on the set. "We inspired the worst in each other," Gosling has said. "It was a strange experience, making a love story and not getting along with your co-star in any way."
Desson Thomson of
The Washington Post praised Gosling's "beguiling unaffectedness" and noted that "it's hard not to like these two or begrudge them a great love together". The film grossed over $115 million worldwide. Gosling won four
Teen Choice Awards and an
MTV Movie Award.
Entertainment Weekly has said that the movie contains the All-Time Best Movie Kiss while the
Los Angeles Times has included a scene from the film in a list of the 50 Classic Movie Kisses.
The Notebook has appeared on many Most Romantic Movies lists. In 2005, Gosling appeared as a disturbed young art student in
Stay, a psychological thriller film co-starring
Naomi Watts and
Ewan McGregor. In an uncomplimentary review of the film, Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times stated that Gosling, "like his fans, deserves better." Todd McCarthy remarked that the "capable" Gosling and McGregor "deliver nothing new from what they've shown before". The film grossed $8 million worldwide. Gosling was unfazed by the negative reaction: "I had a kid come up to me on the street, 10 years old, and he says, 'Are you that guy from
Stay? What the f--- was that movie about?' I think that's great. I'm just as proud if someone says, 'Hey, you made me sick in that movie,' as if they say I made them cry." Gosling next starred in 2006's
Half Nelson as a drug-addicted junior high school teacher who forms a bond with a young student. To prepare for the role, Gosling moved to New York for one month before shooting began. He lived in a small apartment in Brooklyn and spent time shadowing an eighth grade teacher.
Kenneth Turan of the
Los Angeles Times described it as "a mesmerizing performance ... that shows the kind of deep understanding of character few actors manage." Ruthe Stein of the
San Francisco Chronicle drew comparisons with
Marlon Brando and asserted that "nobody who cares about great acting will want to miss his performance". Roger Ebert believed that his performance "proves he's one of the finest actors working in contemporary movies." Gosling garnered a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Actor. In 2007, he was invited to join the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Gosling played an introvert who falls for a sex doll in the 2007 film
Lars and the Real Girl. He drew inspiration from
James Stewart's performance in
Harvey. Roger Ebert felt "a film about a life-sized love doll" had been turned into "a life-affirming statement of hope" because of "a performance by Ryan Gosling that says things that cannot be said". Ann Hornaday of
The Washington Post described his performance as "a small miracle ... because he changes and grows so imperceptibly before our eyes." However, Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times felt "the performance is a rare miscalculation in a mostly brilliant career." He was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and a
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. The film was a box office failure, failing to recoup its $12 million production budget. Gosling starred opposite
Anthony Hopkins in the 2007 courtroom thriller
Fracture. He originally turned down the role, but changed his mind when Hopkins signed on. Gosling noted that he was drawn to his character, Willie, because he had flaws and seemed like a real person. He spent time shadowing lawyers and observing courtroom proceedings in preparation for the role.
Claudia Puig of
USA Today declared that "watching a veteran like Hopkins verbally joust with one of the best young actors in Hollywood is worth the price of admission". Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times felt it was a treat to watch "the spectacle of that crafty scene stealer Anthony Hopkins mixing it up with that equally cunning screen nibbler Ryan Gosling ... Each actor is playing a pulp type rather than a fully formed individual, but both fill in the blanks with an alchemical mix of professional and personal charisma." The film grossed over $91 million worldwide. Gosling was scheduled to begin filming
The Lovely Bones in 2007. However, he left the production two days before filming began because of "creative differences" and was replaced by
Mark Wahlberg. Gosling was cast as the father of the murdered teenage girl and initially felt he was too young for the role. The director
Peter Jackson and the producer
Fran Walsh persuaded him that he could be aged with hair and make-up changes. Before shooting began, Gosling gained 60 pounds (27 kilograms) in weight and grew a beard to appear older.
2010–2012: Widespread recognition Following a three-year absence from the screen, Gosling starred in five films in 2010 and 2011. "I've never had more energy," Gosling said. "I'm more excited to make films than I used to be. I used to kind of dread it. It was so emotional and taxing. But I've found a way to have fun while doing it. And I think that translates into the films."
Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle felt he "brings a preternatural understanding of people to his performance" while A.O. Scott of
The New York Times found him to be "convincing as the run-down, desperate, older Dean, and maybe a bit less so as the younger version".
Owen Gleiberman of
Entertainment Weekly wrote that he "plays Dean as a snarky working-class hipster, but when his anger is unleashed, the performance turns powerful." However,
Wesley Morris of
The Boston Globe felt the performance was an example of "hipsterism misdirected". He was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. The film was a box office success, grossing over $12 million worldwide from a production budget of $1 million. Gosling's second on-screen appearance of 2010 was in the mystery film
All Good Things with
Kirsten Dunst, based on a true story. He played the role of New York real-estate heir David Marks, who was investigated for the disappearance of his wife (played by Dunst). Gosling found the filming process to be a "dark experience" and did not undertake any promotional duties for the film. When asked if he was proud of the film, he said, "I'm proud of what Kirsten does in the movie." Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle found the "chameleonic Gosling is completely convincing as this empty shell of a man". Betsy Sharkey of the
Los Angeles Times felt that the film belonged to Dunst, but praised Gosling's performance. The film grossed $644,535 worldwide. Also in 2010, Gosling narrated and produced
ReGeneration, a documentary that explores the cynicism in today's youth towards social and political causes. 2011 saw Gosling expand his horizons by appearing in three diverse, high-profile roles. He co-starred in his first comedic role in the romantic comedy-drama
Crazy, Stupid, Love, with
Steve Carell and
Emma Stone. Gosling took cocktail-making classes at a Los Angeles bar in preparation for his role as a smooth-talking ladies' man. Ann Hornaday of
The Washington Post said his "seductive command presence suggests we may have found our next
George Clooney". Peter Travers declared him "a comic knockout" while Claudia Puig of
USA Today felt he reveals a "surprising" "knack for comedy." He was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film was a box office success, grossing over $142 million worldwide. With adjustments for inflation, it is the fourth most successful of Gosling's career. Gosling's first action role was in
Drive, based on a novel by
James Sallis. Gosling played a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a
getaway driver, and he has described the film as a "violent
John Hughes movie": "I always thought if
Pretty in Pink had head-smashing it would be perfect". Roger Ebert compared Gosling to
Steve McQueen and stated that he "embodies presence and sincerity ... he has shown a gift for finding arresting, powerful characters [and] can achieve just about anything.
Joe Morgenstern of
The Wall Street Journal pondered "the ongoing mystery of how he manages to have so much impact with so little apparent effort. It's irresistible to liken his economical style to that of
Marlon Brando." The film was a box office success, grossing $81 million worldwide from a production budget of $15 million. In his final appearance of 2011, Gosling co-starred with
Philip Seymour Hoffman in the political drama
The Ides of March directed by
George Clooney, in which he played an ambitious press secretary. Gosling partly decided to do the film to become more politically aware: "I'm Canadian and so American politics aren't really in my wheelhouse." Joe Morganstern stated that Gosling and Hoffman "are eminently well equipped to play variations on their characters' main themes. Yet neither actor has great material to conjure with in the script." In a generally tepid review, Kenneth Turan of the
Los Angeles Times asserted that it was "certainly involving to see the charismatic Gosling verbally spar with superb character actors like Hoffman and [Paul] Giamatti." Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle felt there was "one aspect to the character that Gosling can't quite nail down, that might simply be outside his sphere, which is idealism." He was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. In 2012, Gosling filmed
Terrence Malick's
Song to Song, but the film would not be released until 2017.
2013–2014: Mixed critical reception and directorial debut In 2013's crime thriller
Gangster Squad, Gosling portrayed Sgt. Jerry Wooters, a 1940s
LAPD officer who attempts to outsmart mob boss
Mickey Cohen (played by
Sean Penn). He was reunited with
Emma Stone as his love interest, after their earlier pairing in
Crazy, Stupid, Love. Stone has said she hopes they will find more projects to work together on. A.O. Scott of
The New York Times described the film as an excuse for the cast "to earn some money trying out funny voices and suppressing whatever sense of nuance they might possess."
Christy Lemire of
The Boston Globe criticized Gosling's "weird, whispery voice" and his "barely developed, one-note" character. However, Betsy Sharkey of the
Los Angeles Times felt that there was "a seductive power" in the scenes shared by Gosling and Stone: "But like too much else in the film, it's a scenario that is only half played out." In
The Place Beyond the Pines, a generational drama directed by
Blue Valentines Derek Cianfrance, Gosling played Luke, a motorcycle stunt rider who robs banks to provide for his family. The shoot was described by Gosling as "the best experience I have ever had making a film." Scott Foundas of
The Village Voice was unimpressed: "Gosling's character verges on parody ... Gosling uses a soft, wounded half-whisper that tells us this is all some kind of put-on ... It's a close variation on the role Gosling played to stronger effect in Nicolas Winding Refn's existential Hollywood thriller,
Drive, where it was clear the character was meant to be an abstraction."
David Denby of
The New Yorker remarked that he "reprises his inexorable-loner routine". The film grossed $35 million worldwide from a production budget of $15 million. Later in 2013, Gosling starred in the violent revenge drama
Only God Forgives, directed by
Drives Nicolas Winding Refn. Gosling undertook
Muay Thai training in preparation for the role, and has described the script as "the strangest thing I've ever read".
David Edelstein of
New York magazine stated, "Gosling looked like a major actor as a skinhead in
The Believer and a star in
Half Nelson. Then he stopped acting and started posing. His performance in
Only God Forgives (would God forgive that title?) is one long, moist stare". Stephen Holden of the
New York Times criticized Gosling's inability "to give his automaton any suggestion of an inner life". Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone commented that Gosling, while "meant to be a blank page for us to write on, often looks merely blank". In early 2013, Gosling announced that he was taking a break from acting, stating, "I've lost perspective on what I'm doing. I think it's good for me to take a break and reassess why I'm doing it and how I'm doing it. And I think this is probably a good way to learn about that." Gosling's directorial debut
Lost River competed in the
Un Certain Regard section at the
2014 Cannes Film Festival. The "fantasy noir", written by Gosling, stars
Christina Hendricks,
Ben Mendelsohn, and
Matt Smith. The film received largely unfavorable reviews.
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian found it "insufferably conceited" and remarked that Gosling had lost "any sense of proportion or humility."
Robbie Collin of
The Daily Telegraph described
Lost River as "mind-bogglingly pleased with itself", while
Varietys
Justin Chang dismissed the "derivative" film as a "train-wreck."
2015–present: Established actor In 2015, Gosling played a bond salesman in the ensemble financial satire
The Big Short, a Best Picture nominee at the
2016 Academy Awards. David Sims of
The Atlantic felt that he was "smarmily funny, somehow simultaneously magnetic and repulsive; after years wandering the halls of mediocre art cinema, it's wonderful to see him cut loose again." Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone said: "Gosling, a virtuoso of verbal sleaze, talks directly to the camera, and he's volcanically fierce and funny." The following year, Gosling starred in the black comedy
The Nice Guys, opposite
Russell Crowe, and in
Damien Chazelle's musical
La La Land, for which he won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and received his second
Academy Award for Best Actor nomination. Robbie Collin praised his chemistry with co-star Emma Stone, writing: "Both stars are so attuned to each other's pace and flow that their repartee just seems to tumble out, perfectly formed." It emerged as one of his most commercially successful films, with earnings of over $440 million against its $30 million budget. Gosling was signed on to work with
Terrence Malick in 2004 on the biographical film
Che, but later dropped out. He later starred in Malick's
Song to Song (2017), which had been filmed in 2012, and co-starred
Rooney Mara,
Michael Fassbender, and
Natalie Portman. A. O. Scott found him to be perfectly cast, adding that his "ability to elicit sympathy while seeming too distracted to want it – his knack for making boredom look like passion and vice versa – makes him a perfect warm-blooded robot for our time". Despite being Gosling's largest box office opening, grossing $31.5 million domestically, the film generally underperformed at the box office. In 2018, Gosling portrayed
Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who became the first man to walk on the Moon in 1969, in Chazelle's biopic
First Man, based on the book
First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. Writing for
IndieWire, Michael Nordine commended him for bringing "quiet charisma" and "grace" to his role, while Nicholas Barber of the
BBC hailed him as the "best deadpan actor in the business". He received a nomination for the
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor. After a four-year break from film, Gosling returned starring in the 2022 spy-action thriller
The Gray Man, opposite
Chris Evans and
Ana de Armas. The film had a limited theatrical release and was distributed by
Netflix to negative reviews from critics, who described the film as "mediocre" and full of cliches. A sequel has been announced and is in development. In the following year, Gosling starred as
Ken in
Greta Gerwig's fantasy comedy
Barbie, opposite
Margot Robbie in the
title role. He also sang the song "
I'm Just Ken" for the film's
accompanying soundtrack as well as a cover of
"Push" by
Matchbox Twenty. His performance was acclaimed, with
Anthony Lane of
The New Yorker lauding his comedic performance as "peak Gosling", and
Vulture Alison Willmore wrote that he "comes close to stealing the movie". He received
Golden Globe,
Critics' Choice,
Screen Actors Guild,
BAFTA, and
Academy Award nominations for his performance. He performed "I'm Just Ken" live at the
96th Academy Awards, where it was nominated for
Best Original Song. Gosling next starred in the action comedy film
The Fall Guy alongside
Emily Blunt. It received positive reviews from critics but did not perform well commercially. In 2026, Gosling produced and starred in
Project Hail Mary, based on
Andy Weir's science fiction
novel of the same name. His performance in the film received critical acclaim. He will star in Shawn Levy's
space opera film
Star Wars: Starfighter, and will produce
Rachel Morrison's
romantic drama Love of Your Life starring
Margaret Qualley and
Patrick Schwarzenegger. ==Music career==