Ryan Gosling Says His and Eva Mendes' Daughters Know 'I'm Just Ken' Choreography Better Than Him

Anything Ken can do, they can do better! Ryan Gosling has enjoyed sharing the Barbie phenomenon with his and Eva Mendes' daughters, Esmeralda, 9, and Amada, 7.

The Oscar-nominated actor -- who made a splash last summer for playing the patriarchy-loving Ken in Greta Gerwig's film, Barbie, opposite Margot Robbie -- gave a dazzling performance of "I'm Just Ken" at the 2024 Oscars earlier this year. 

Gosling brought his daughters to the dress rehearsal for the widely praised number, and revealed that the girls went full stage mom on their own dad. 

"They know all the choreography better than I do -- and the songs. They're backstage kind of showing me," Gosling said on Thursday's episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon while miming the choreography. "Come on, jazz hands!" 

He quipped that his daughters must have thought, "Dad's Ken'ing again."

"It was their interest in Barbie and their disinterest in Ken that sort of started all of this, and it's really been a team effort," he shared. "They were on the film and they came to set when I filmed the number."

He added that the girls attending the Oscars dress rehearsals gave them more context for what it actually meant that their dad played Ken. 

"A lot of this has no context for them. It's just like a lot of fake tan stains around the house," he joked. "So I wanted them to come to the dress rehearsal just to give it some kind of context for what had been going on."

Mendes was also backstage supporting her husband at the Oscars dress rehearsal. During a Today show appearance in March, the actress explained her decision to step back from her Hollywood career in order to raise the couple's children. 

"It was like a no-brainer. [And I was like], I'm so lucky if I could have this time with my children," Mendes said of becoming a full-time mother. 

Mendes noted that she still works but prefers not to act because "acting takes you on location. It takes you away."

"It was almost just like a non-verbal agreement that it was like, 'OK, he's going to work and I'm going to work. I'm just going to work here,'" she added. "He went and he did his job. He just happens to be really good at his job. And he did it and he came home."

Gosling is next set to host Saturday Night Live this weekend, marking his third time taking on the sketch comedy show. 

"I'm more nervous [this time], well, because before I didn't know, now I know," Gosling admitted on the Tonight Show. "I think I laugh too much." 

Gosling will be hosting alongside musical guest Chris Stapleton.

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