Ryan GoslingHis initial brush with showbiz came not on a soundstage, but at a wedding reception, where the future star belted out tunes for the 8-year-old’s pocket money. In a recent candid interview, the 45-year-old actress opened up about her uncle’s obsession. Elvis Presley ignited the journey of his performance.
Uncle’s Elvis Parsley Spark
On The Drew Barrymore Show, Gosling painted a vivid picture of coming home from school to find his uncle enthralled in a white jumpsuit. “So my uncle was an Elvis [Presley] impersonator,” Gosling told Barrymore. “When I was 8 years old, I came home from school one day and there was a white jumpsuit in the living room with a big eagle on his back, and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ And he said, ‘I’m going to be Elvis for a while.‘And it was.’ He went on to describe the entire transformation. “He started talking like Elvis, singing like Elvis, doing karate in the backyard,” Gosling added.
Wedding singer the concert
When his uncle retired from acting, Gosling and his sister kept the fun going, leading to his quirky side hustle. “I’d get $20 to sing ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ to the bride in the lingerie ceremony,” Gosling said with a laugh. “Say…who thought it was a good idea to bring an 8-year-old to a leotard ceremony? I’d get down on one knee and sing to him…and I was like, ‘Where’s my $20?'” The gig that landed him at The All-New Mickey Mouse Club at age 13 honed his skills.
Local fame and talent shows
In the same interview, Ryan shared more about his uncle’s fame. Growing up in a small town in Ontario, Gosling’s uncle drew crowds to the mall with his act. “You know, everyone in our town used to come to the mall to see the show,” he recalled. “Everybody felt like they were watching Elvis, you know, people would … put on a talent show, to complete the show. And so, you know, the guy who works at A&P all of a sudden, he’s doing a version of ‘Black Velvet’ that would knock your socks off.“This scene taught the young Gosling about the magic of acting. He called it a ‘liberating experience’ and explained, ‘You realize that everybody has talent… when they get on stage, it’s who they really are.'” Gosling remains “so grateful”, noting that his uncle’s influence changed his life.
