Ryan Gosling's diverse film roles

Ryan Gosling will float across movie screens as Neil Armstrong in the adventure drama film First Man come October. The 38-year-old Canadian began his career as a 12-year-old on the US television show The Mickey Mouse Club. The show also featured the likes of upcoming superstars Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake.

Gosling appeared in a movie for the first time in 1996. In the 2002 film, Murder by Numbers, he plays a teenager who murders out of boredom. The 2004 love story The Notebook (pictured) was a commercial success. In this film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel, Gosling plays Noah, who fights against all the odds for his great love, Allie.

Playing Lars, an introverted small town boy who falls in love with a sex doll in the 2007 Lars and the Real Girl, was regarded as Gosling's most daring performance at the time. A year earlier he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of a crackhead teacher in Half Nelson.

Gosling's good looks inevitably landed him several romantic lead roles. In the 2010 indie film Blue Valentine, he plays a young man, Dean, who marries Cindy (Michelle Williams) after she finds out she has fallen pregnant to her ex-boyfriend. The marriage is doomed to fail, however. Williams was nominated for an Oscar and Gosling received much critical praise.

The 2011 romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love sees Gosling as a womanizer who coaches a divorcee (Steve Carell, pictured left) he meets in a bar in how to flirt and pick up women. Unfortunately, Gosling's next conquest is that man's daughter, played by Emma Stone – and they inevitably fall in love.

In the political thriller by and with George Clooney, Gosling plays a power-hungry campaign manager who, in the course of a US presidential election campaign, is drawn ever deeper into a maelstrom of intrigue and betrayal until he finally gives up his ideals. The role netted Gosling his fourth nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Golden Globes.

The 2011 action drama Drive cemented Gosling's reputation as one of Hollywood's most adaptable working actors. He plays a stoic stuntman who works as a getaway driver for crooks at night. Drive was nominated for several best film awards, including a BAFTA

A year later, Gosling played a motorcycle stunt driver, Luke, in the gritty drama, The Place beyond the Pines — another collaboration with Blue valentine director, Derek Cianfrance. Luke robs banks to help support his ex-girlfriend (Eva Mendes) and their son – until one robbery goes horribly wrong. Fifteen years later, the drama runs its course when Luke's son meets his father's murderer.

In 2014, the Hollywood heartthrob debuted as a director in Lost River. His real-life partner Eva Mendes also stars in this partly autobiographical mystery drama about a single mother of two sons. Two years later, Gosling was back to acting instead of directing in the action comedy The Nice Guys (photo), playing the lead private detective role.

Gosling plays a cyber cop in the 2017 sequel to the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner. As Officer K, he hunts artificial people through the smog of a futuristic L.A., Replicants who are destined to be wiped out because their unlimited lifespan has become unpopular with their creators.

Gosling was finally rewarded with a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Leading Actor that same year for his role as a dancing jazz pianist in la La Land. Will First Man be as successful? La la Land director Damien Chazelle is again helming the film adapted from a Neil Armstrong biography of the same name, while Josh Singer of Spotlight fame wrote the screenplay.