Ryan Gosling

Academy Award-nominated Canadian actor and musician. He was born 12 November 1980 in London, Ontario, Canada. In 2007, Gosling made a solo recording called "Put Me in the Car" available for download on the Internet. Also that year, Gosling and his friend Zach Shields formed the indie rock band Dead Man's Bones. The two first met in 2005 when Gosling was dating Rachel McAdams and Shields was dating her sister, Kayleen McAdams. They initially conceived of the project as a monster-themed musical but settled on forming a band when they realized putting on a stage production would be too expensive. They recorded their eponymous debut album with the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children's Choir and learned to play all the instruments themselves. Gosling contributed vocals, piano, guitar, bass guitar and cello to the record. The album was released through ANTI- Records on October 6, 2009. Pitchfork Media was won over by the "unique, catchy and lovably weird record" while Prefix felt the album was "rarely kitschy and never inappropriate". However, Spin felt the album "doesn't reverse the rule that actors make dubious pop musicians" and Entertainment Weekly criticized its "cloying, gothic preciousness". In September 2009, Gosling and Shields had a three-night residency at LA's Bob Baker Marionette Theater where they performed alongside dancing neon skeletons and glowing ghosts. They then conducted a thirteen-date tour of North America in October 2009, using a local children's choir at every show. Instead of an opening act, a talent show was held each night. In September 2010, they performed at Los Angeles' FYF Festival. In 2011, the actor spoke of his intentions to record a second Dead Man's Bones album. No children's choir will be featured on the follow-up album because "it's not very rock 'n' roll".