After a couple of years in self-imposed obscurity, Ryan Gosling is back on the big screen. Considering he hates being a celebrity, it may seem like an odd choice to star in the shockingly über-commercial romantic comedy Barbie. Ryan explains that he chose to play Ken for his daughters' sake.

3 quick

Ryan Gosling loves to… 
… listen to The Shangri-Las, Del Shannon and Buddy Holly. … play the piano, learned to play jazz for the movie La La Land. … act in action movies. “When I was little, I dreamed of becoming an action star like my idols Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme.”

I want my children to have as normal an upbringing as possible, with parents who love each other. Eva and I have chosen not to hire any nannies, but we do everything at home ourselves. If one of us is filming somewhere else in the world, the rest of the family follows. But the truth is that these days I don't work more than I feel like. Being a good and present father is my focus

Ryan Gosling is a highly involuntary idol and movie star. He is shy, quite quiet and feels uncomfortable when he is forced to talk about himself. The 42-year-old Canadian broke through as a movie actor in 2004 in the beloved indie film The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, opposite Rachel McAdams. Crazy Stupid Love, Blue Valentine and other acclaimed roles continued his career. The big breakthroughs came with Drive and then the action film Blade Runner 2049 and the smash hit La La Land, the grand musical adventure in which Ryan sings, plays the piano and dances alongside Emma Stone.

– I obviously love it when films I'm in get a lot of attention, but on a personal level it can easily become too much, Ryan said recently in an interview with GQ.
Ryan and his wife, actress Eva Mendes, live with their two daughters on a large private estate in Southern California.
– I want my children to have as normal an upbringing as possible, with parents who love each other. Eva and I have chosen not to hire any nannies, but we do everything at home ourselves. If one of us is filming somewhere else in the world, the rest of the family follows. But the truth is that these days I don't work more than I feel like. Being a good and present father is my focus.

Daughters Amanda and Esmeralda are 7 and 8 years old. Most of Ryan's films are not suitable for children, but this summer that will change. Ryan plays the role of Ken in the long-awaited feature film about Barbie. In the lead role we see Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Suicide Squad, I, Tonya) who also produced the film. Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Young Women) is directing, who also wrote the film with her partner Noah Baumbach.

Having orange skin, bleached hair, and wearing shocking pink outfits didn't deter Ryan:
– I've always loved dressing up and there's no better excuse than being in this movie, he laughs.
Ryan has been dancing, singing and acting since he was a child. He used to hang out with his uncle at gigs where he performed as an Elvis impersonator at various shopping malls and private parties. Ryan's parents divorced when he was little and he grew up with his mother and sister in a small town in Ontario, Canada. Everyone in the town worked at the local paper mill and Ryan describes the environment as being as far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood as you can get.
– I dreamed of one day standing on stage and receiving applause – of dressing up and being someone completely different for a while.

Ryan Gosling

Age: 42
Occupation: Actor and musician.
Boron Southern California.
Family Married to actress Eva Mendes. Two daughters, 7 and 8 years old.
Background in brief: Ryan was not a star in school but liked to make mischief, play action hero, dance ballet and sing. He entered various talent competitions and when he was 12 years old he got a job in the popular American children's program Mickey Mouse Club and moved to Orlando, Florida where he lived and worked with other future superstars such as Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. He broke through in the film The Diary of a Wimpy Kid and has played in more than 40 feature films. 
Featured films: The Diary – I Searched for You and Found My Heart, Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl, Blue Valentine, Crazy, Stupid Love, Drive, Men of Power, Gangster Squad, The Place Beyond the Pines, La La Land, Blade Runner 2049, The Gray Man.
Currently In this summer's blockbuster Barbie, Swedish premiere July 23.

When Ryan was younger, acting was a form of therapy, a way for him to play a role as someone else while also developing and getting to know himself. For example, in the 2010 film Blue Valentine, he and his co-star Michelle Williams and the girl who plays their daughter in the film lived in the house where the film was filmed, to get the right feel for their roles. Before his role in Drive, he spent a lot of time in the car, driving around and listening to music to 'get into character'.

– I went into the roles wholeheartedly and felt like it was 'my' film, part of my self-development and I took each role very seriously. Nowadays it's different. Now I take roles that I know will be a commercial success, and that feels fun too – but in a different way.
But when Ryan met Eva Mendes while filming The Place Beyond the Pines in 2014, he changed as a person. They played a family in the movie and it felt so good that Ryan and Eva wanted to do it for real.

I went into the roles wholeheartedly and felt like it was 'my' film, part of my self-development and I took each role very seriously. These days it's different. Now I take roles that I know will be a commercial success, and it feels fun too – but in a different way

– We had our second child and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with the family. We don't have nannies or domestic help. Eva and I like to take care of our children ourselves. My focus is one hundred percent on giving them a good upbringing. When Eva told me she was pregnant with our first child, I was terrified, I really couldn't see myself in the role of father. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to handle it, but now I'm so glad I didn't have control over my destiny, because being a father is much better than I could have ever dreamed of.
Once the Barbie controversy has subsided, Ryan will likely be quiet for a while. He says he prefers to hide and reappear when he feels like it.
– Life is something that happens and new fun things pop up when you least expect it. As an artist, I want to be prepared, see the opportunities and welcome them with open arms – if I feel like it. Otherwise, I say no.

Ambassador for Tag Heuer

Ryan recently filmed a more ambitious commercial for watch brand Tag Heuer. The aim was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Carrera watch model, and a commercial called The Chase for Carrera was created in collaboration with director David Leitch, known for, among other things, Bullet Train.

It became a Hollywood production in the action genre with a car chase in focus, or perhaps rather a documentary about a filming on the theme. David Leitch plays the role of himself and Vanessa Bayer plays the role of the props manager, and in the film she herself wears the new model of the Heuer Carrera 36mm watch in pink. She is also the one who is in charge of the classic watch, the watch that Gosling wears in the film and absolutely does not want to give back. The car chase in the commercial is followed by another chase where Gosling, fittingly enough, drives a Porsche Carrera. Vanessa takes the golf cart…
The watch is Tag Heuer's legendary Carrera, launched in 1963 under the leadership of then CEO Jack Heuer. The name refers to the infamous Carrera Panamerican race where the driver's ability to navigate the high-speed curves was crucial. The model became an icon: elegant, simple, sporty and courageous in its design – a timeless design that lives up to the brand's motto:
”"Don't crack under pressure."”
Tag Heuer fans can have fun finding the five clues with Tag references hidden in the film. Also keep an eye out for the different models Gosling will be wearing on his arm in other films and TV series.
“Tag Heuer has always had a close relationship with Hollywood, and our watches have been worn on the silver screen for decades, from Steve McQueen to our modern-day Ryan Gosling,” says Frédéric Arnault, CEO of Tag Heuer, in a comment on the project.

– I think what impressed me the most was how fearless and how creative Tag Heur were. This is a campaign that is different not only from anything we have done together, but from anything that has been done before. I enjoyed working with David Leitch on the film The Fall Guy so I asked if he would like to film an action scene for this campaign. Since the film was about making a film, we thought it would be fitting that the commercial would be about making the commercial, says Ryan Gosling about the collaboration and adds:
– I was surprised to see a luxury brand known for its serious and artistic campaigns suddenly embrace and showcase this project with so much humor, he concludes.