And we mean down-to-earth. Ryan admits that he doesn't even think he deserves the success he's had so far—that he's still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Look, this is crazy," he said. "I don’t understand how I’m here, living this life, wearing this suit. I assume I’m going to pay for it someday…. And that’s okay. It seems fair to me. I just want to be ready for it. I want to meet it like a gentleman."

In the meantime, "like a gentleman" is how Ryan lives by default. Most actors would celebrate their first million-dollar feature film success by getting a swelled head, chartering a private plane, heading to the Maldives and spending a month in the lap of luxury—but not Mr. Gosling. Instead, after starring in "The Notebook," he went right back out and got a job...at a local deli.

"I’d never had a real job," he admitted. The problem with Hollywood, he goes on, is that nobody works. "They have meals. They go to Pilates. But it’s not enough. So they do drugs. If everybody had a pile of rocks in their backyard and spent every day moving them from one side of the yard to the other, it would be a much happier place."

Aww. Ryan, we'd move rocks with you anytime.

Are you smitten yet? (No? What's wrong with you?!) Tell us what you think about Ryan in the comments and on Twitter!