Cinematic Crush: Ryan Gosling

It's not often that a former Mousketeer gets nominated for an Academy Award. In fact, before this year, it never happened ... or was even considered. Leave it to the multi-talented Ryan Gosling to defy the odds.

Gosling began his show biz life as one of the 90's batch of Mickey Mouse Clubbers (along with the likes of Britney, Justin, Christina and Keri), but it wasn't until this decade that we truly saw what he can do. After a typical teen role in Remember the Titans, Gosling erupted on the screen as a self-loathing Jewish neo-Nazi thug in The Believer. It was clear his child star years were over.

More challenging roles followed in The Slaughter Rule, Murder by Numbers and The United States of Leland. It appeared that Gosling had the angry youth market sown up, but his next project broke that mold. The Notebook, a mainstream tear-jerker, was the last thing you would have expected from him, but he nailed the obsessive love of his character and the onscreen chemistry he shared with co-star Rachel McAdams was palatable (and carried over off screen; the two have been together ever since).

Half Nelson, his next film, was yet another revelation for Gosling. He played a drug addicted high school teacher who was his own worst enemy, netting him his first (but far from last) Oscar nomination. Not one to rest on his laurels, this year Gosling faced off against Anthony Hopkins in Fracture and fell in love with a sex doll in Lars and the Real Girl. Next up: the grieving father of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones for director Peter Jackson, and possibly the Batman in the upcoming Justice League of America movie (that is, if you believe the rumors).

Whether or not he dons the cape and cowl of the Dark Knight, it is easy to assume that whatever Gosling does next, we will be there to see him do it.

Links via Imdb.com, EW.com, MoviesBlog.MTV.com and CinemaFusion.com.