30 Things You Didn't Know About Ryan Gosling

Because, seriously, no one can get enough.

March 27, 2013

Image via Complex Original

What is it that is so captivating about Ryan Gosling? He's played a range of characters, from the perfect boyfriend Noah in The Notebook to the suave GQ playboy in Crazy, Stupid, Love to the mysterious motorcycle rider in The Place Beyond the Pines (out Friday). He's become an icon for feminists and the face of the incredibly hilarious “Hey Girl” meme. And most importantly, he's—well, have you seen him? The man looks great even at his ugliest.

But there is so much more behind that quietly confident exterior, those “are they really not photoshopped?” abs, and crinkly smile than meets the eye. Here are 30 things you didn’t know about Ryan Gosling.

Contrary to his famous meme, he's never said "Hey, girl."

He feels responsible for corrupting Britney Spears on The Mickey Mouse Club. He says, "They would come and ask me questions about sex, and I just told them what I heard – like positions and stuff. All the other mothers went to Disney and told them I was corrupting their kids. I feel somewhat responsible for how sexual she is right now. When I see her with a snake around her neck, I think, 'Did I do that?'

He starred in a pilot episode of a TV show called The Unbelievables with his future Crazy, Stupid, Love co-star Steve Carrell.

Inspired by the movie First Blood, he once took steak knives to school and threw them at other children during recess.

The producers of the 2007 film Fracture had a hard time finding Ryan Gosling to give him the film's script because he was living in a tent for two months at the time for reasons he won't disclose.

In 2005, he traveled to Chad to make a documentary on the Darfur refugees who were living there at the time.

When two guys got into a fight on the streets of NYC, Gosling played mediator and stopped it before it got too serious.

Ryan has two nicknames in high school: "Opie" and "Trouble". These two names signify a "good boy bad boy" persona.

After filming Murder by Numbers, he purchased the Jeep Cherokee that was driven throughout the film.

A huge jazz fan, his favorite musician is Chet Baker.

When he was 8, he would go to weddings and act as "security" for his uncle's impersonation of Elvis Presley, named Elvis Perry. His sister and him would also sing for the bride.

Gosling admits that he has no entourage and only a few close friends. He often prefers solitude while not working, attributing it to his autonomous childhood.

He was the only Mickey Mouse Club cast member who didn't live in the same complex as all the other cast members and their families. According to an interview, he and his family lived in a nearby trailer park and he was the family's only source of income.

To prepare for his role as the romantic Noah in The Notebook, Gosling built a kitchen table, which was featured in the film.

Gosling and ex-girlfriend, Rachel McAdams, were born in the same hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital in Ontario, Canada.

He has a tattoo on his left arm that is supposed to look like a monster's hand with a bloody heart but because Gosling inked it himself with a home tattoo kit, it turned out looking more like a cactus.

Gosling was raised in a Mormon family, and was home-schooled as a child.

He takes his dog, George, with him to his yoga classes.

When British writer Laurie Penny was crossing the street, Gosling grabbed her right before she got hit by a car.

He once bought hundreds of boxes of Girl Scouts cookies and, because he didn't know what to do with them,decided to start handing them out to strangers on a freeway.

Thanks to his leading role in Half Nelson, Gosling was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor in 2006.

He is heavily involved in many types of philanthranpic work, including PETA, Invisible Children and SickKids Foundation. He has also devoted time and money to AIS research, poverty aid and humane animal treatment.

He is the co-owner of a Moroccan restaurant in Beverly Hills called Tagine.

Gosling could have been the sixth member of Backstreet Boys, but he turned the offer down because he thought they were too much of a "New Kids rip-off" to be successful.

When he was a kid, he was obsessed with the movie Dick Tracy and

Gosling is making is directorial debut this year with the movie How To Catch A Monster starring Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan and Matt Smith.

When his movie, Blue Valentine, was threatened to receive a strict NC-17 rating, Gosling wrote to the Motion Picture Association of America and accused them of sexist double standards.

Justin Timberlake's mom was his

Speaking of Justin Timberlake, the two of them were roommates during their time in the Mickey Mouse Club.

He sings in a band called Dead Man'

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