10 of Ryan Gosling's Best Movies to Stream Before the Oscars

From rom-coms like 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' to blockbuster phenomenons like 'Barbie,' these are Ryan Gosling’s best movies

He’s Kenough ... and he knows it.

Ryan Gosling has earned high praise for his performance as Ken in 2023’s Barbie. Not only did the actor receive a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role, but his hit song in the movie, “I’m Just Ken,” has taken on a life of its own and has become a memorable part of Hollywood history in its own right.

Gosling first got his start in the early '90s when he starred in The All-New Mickey Mouse Club alongside other soon-to-be-famous faces like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Keri Russell. Since then, Gosling has starred in everything from Oscar-winning dramas to sci-fi adventures, rom-com favorites and more.

Ahead of the 2024 Oscars, here are Ryan Gosling's best movies, including Barbie, La La Land, The Notebook and more.

The Notebook

One of Gosling’s first major film roles was in 2004’s The Notebook, where he starred alongside Rachel McAdams. Based on the 1996 Nicholas Sparks novel, the movie follows two lovers who meet in the 1940s and begin a whirlwind romance, concluding with the couple in their old age. The Notebook also has a moving and somewhat heartbreaking twist ending, which is a rarity for romance films. The movie became a smash hit and has had a lasting legacy as one of the most iconic romantic films ever.

Watch The Notebook on Hulu

Half Nelson

Gosling received his first Oscar nomination for his role in 2006’s Half Nelson, a film about a high school teacher who is secretly hiding a drug addiction. As his addiction grows worse, he begins to lose track of his life and his lies are exposed. “I didn’t want to portray the typical roller-coaster ride of addiction,” Gosling told The Seattle Times in 2006. “This story was about the monotony of being an addict.” Half Nelson also stars Anthony Mackie and Denis O’Hare.

Watch Half Nelson on Peacock

Lars and the Real Girl 

In 2007’s Lars and the Real Girl, Gosling plays Lars, an isolated young man with a debilitating amount of social anxiety. To subconsciously alleviate his loneliness, Lars buys a life-size sex doll, whom he names Bianca, and begins treating her like his girlfriend. Before long, the town sees how much the doll is helping Lars and they all begin to treat her like a real person. Gosling earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role and the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Watch Lars and the Real Girl on Tubi

Blue Valentine 

In 2010, Gosling returned to the big screen after a three-year hiatus with Blue Valentine. He stars alongside Michelle Williams (who received an Oscar nomination for her role) as a couple during two eras of their relationship: the heated and passionate beginning of their romance, and their destructive, unhappy marriage years later. Blue Valentine is gripping, raw and often painful, with Gosling and Williams’ fantastic performances making the story feel all too real.

Watch Blue Valentine on Max

Drive 

In Drive, Gosling plays a character known only as The Driver, a Hollywood stuntman and criminal-for-hire. But he gets in a little too deep after he agrees to take on what seems like a simple heist job, but finds himself in the middle of two dueling mafia gangs. Drive premiered to rave reviews, and though the movie isn’t known as an ensemble film, it has a fantastic cast loaded with stars like Christina Hendricks, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Issac, Bryan Cranston and Ron Perlman.

Rent Drive on Prime Video

Crazy, Stupid, Love

In this 2011 rom-com, Gosling plays a womanizer named Jacob who helps Cal (Steve Carell), a recently divorced father, get his mojo back and re-enter the dating field. The two become good friends until Cal learns that Jacob’s latest fling is with ... his daughter. From there, sparks fly in all directions and every character in the movie quickly realizes they’re all connected in a web of sex, love and lies. Also in the cast are Emma Stone and Julianne Moore.

Watch Crazy, Stupid, Love on Hulu

La La Land

Gosling received his second Oscar nomination for the 2016 romantic film La La Land. In the movie, he and Emma Stone play two Angelinos who fall in love while struggling to build careers in the entertainment industry. Though set in the present day, the movie is a nod to the Golden Age of Hollywood. La La Land was nominated for a whopping 13 Oscars, winning Best Director and Best Actress for Stone’s performance.

Rent La La Land on Prime Video

Blade Runner 2049

Taking place 30 years after the first film, Blade Runner 2049 sees Gosling play K, a clone-like “replicant” – a race that society treats like slaves and views as non-human since they’re created through bioengineering. But after K discovers that replicants can reproduce on their own, the lines between what is and isn’t life get blurred, and that knowledge risks sparking a replicant uprising. The movie became a blockbuster hit and was praised for its visual effects. It also saw the return of Harrison Ford who reprised his role as Rick Deckard.

Watch Blade Runner 2049 on Hulu

First Man

In the 2018 biopic First Man, Gosling plays renowned astronaut Neil Armstrong, who became the first person to walk on the moon. The film follows Armstrong’s life from his days as a NASA test pilot to his role in the Gemini rocket program, and of course, his famous journey to the moon on the Apollo 11 spacecraft. “I don’t think Neil viewed himself as an American hero, quite the opposite,” Gosling told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018. “Neil was someone who was extremely humble, as were many of these astronauts ... the way we made the film was to honor the way Neil viewed himself.” Gosling was joined in the cast by Pablo Schreiber, Patrick Fugit and Claire Foy, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role.

Rent First Man on Prime Video

Barbie

Bright, colorful, fun, quirky and zany ... but also filled with tons of hard-hitting critiques about power dynamics in our society, Barbie didn’t just become 2023’s biggest film, it also went down in history as one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. With a fantastic script, an epic all-star cast and even a Grammy-winning original song with Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For," Barbie exploded into a global phenomenon. Gosling has earned several awards and nominations for his role as Ken, including an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe, Grammy, SAG Award and more.

Watch Barbie on Max

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