Ryan Gosling Chose To Leave High School For This Movie Role

While it's a given for most people to go to high school, followed by college, then possibly a Masters or Doctorate, it wasn't so for the attractive and incredibly cool Ryan Gosling.

He dropped out of high school in order to appear on "Young Hercules." The native Canadian had a tough time in school, so he eventually dropped out to pursue his dreams. This eventually paid off in the end.

Gosling grew up in Ontario, Canada. He has an older sister, Mandi. As children, they enjoyed singing and dancing. Gosling also liked watching old movies.

One of his favorite actors was Marlon Brando, who was also a high school dropout. To protect himself from the bullies in elementary school, Gosling decided to try to talk like Brando.

Because of his hatred of school, Gosling’s mother homeschooled him through part of his teenage years, according to IMDb.

He performed in talent shows alongside his sister, and at the age of 12, he tried out for the All-New Mickey Mouse Club in Montreal. He won over several other auditioning kids, and earned a spot on the show.

Although he wasn’t one of the main stars, he was a part of the club for two years. He appeared in episodes alongside other notables including Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera.

Gosling didn’t go through the traditional route when it came to schooling. He was homeschooled by his mother for the entire fifth grade because he struggled so much with his schoolwork. He then returned to traditional school after that year, but it wasn't for long.

During his early childhood, he got a role in "The Mickey Mouse Club."  The decision to go for the show's audition was spontaneous.

While this was Gosling’s first big break in the industry, he chose to forge a different path than his young co-stars.

He made the decision to fully pursue acting, and forgo any thoughts of schooling. At age 17, he officially dropped out of high school to pursue his dreams.

According to Insider, this happened when he landed a lead role on a New Zealand historical fantasy show called "Young Hercules."

This role led to more incredible roles in other television series and a life away from Ontario where most of his male relatives still worked in a paper mill.

It also solidified him as an actor and led him to many other great opportunities that sky-rocketed his career and life as a whole.

Since he started his acting career at such a young age, Gosling excelled in his roles and was also selective about what characters he took on.

During an interview with The Washington Post,  he mentioned what he really wanted out of a character, For him, it was just somebody he thought was "real."

“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,” he concluded.

After "Young Hercules," came a host of prominent roles. These included "Remember the Titans,""The Notebook," "Crazy Stupid Love," and the award-winning "La La Land."

In "The Notebook,' he played the role of a young and crazy-in-love teenager. This movie catapulted him to stardom, and he became the celebrity crush of ladies worldwide.

In 2017, the role in "La La Land" had Gosling nominated for both the Academy and Golden Globes awards in multiple categories.

He later won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture. The movie also set records for the most Golden Globes won by a single film in history.

Although Gosling never finished any traditional schooling, he never had the cause to regret that decision. He has made a mark for himself and has the qualifications to prove his spot in Hollywood.

Gosling was born on November 12, 1980 in Ontario, Canada. He is the son of Donna, who was a secretary, and Thomas Ray Gosling, a traveling salesman.

Gosling was the second of their two children. His older sibling, Mandi, is a girl. His ancestry is French-Canadian, as well as English, Scottish, and Irish.

The Gosling family lived most of their lives in Cornwall, Ontario. This was where Gosling grew up and was home-schooled by his mother.

He also attended Gladstone Public School, Cornwall Collegiate, and Vocational High School in Cornwall, where he excelled in Drama and Fine Arts.

The family eventually relocated to Burlington, Ontario, where Ryan attended Lester B. Pearson High School.

Gosling dated his "Murder by Numbers" co-star, Sandra Bullock from 2002 to 2003.

He later went on to have a relationship with his "The Notebook" co-star Rachel McAdams from 2005 to 2007. They split after that and briefly reunited in 2020.

Since September 2011, Gosling has been romantically linked with his "The Place Beyond the Pines" co-star, Eva Mendes.

The couple share two daughters, one was born in 2014 and the second in 2016.

The duo is very private about their social and personal lives,, and have since elected not to share photos of their family members on social media. They also rarely make public appearances together.

Although the duo's romance primarily flourished behind closed doors, they proved that their relationship remained strong by being private about the details of their relationship and family.