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How Animaniacs "Planted Some Seeds" for Ryan Gosling's Acting Career

Ryan Gosling (Barbie, The Fall Guy) on how the animated comedy Animaniacs left an impression on what studio life would be like as an actor.


Ryan Gosling has been fortunate enough to carve himself an acting career from an early age, with his first role in Nickelodeon's youth horror anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark in 1995. One of the things he grew up on that left an early impression of what he thought life would be like in Hollywood would be Warner Bros's animated series Animaniacs, one of several shows produced by Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment along with others like Tiny Toon Adventures and Freakazoid!. The series featured three fictional children of the Warner brothers Yakko (Rob Paulsen), Wakko (Jess Harnell), and their sister Dot (Tress MacNeille), as they created chaos along the studio lot. Gosling opened up about the Tom Ruegger-created series influence as part of Variety's profile piece.

Ryan Gosling
Matteo Chinellato / Shutterstock.com

How Animaniacs Left an Impression on Ryan Gosling

"When I was very little, there was a show called 'Animaniacs,'" the star of Barbie and upcoming The Fall Guy said. "And they lived at Warner Bros. in the water tower — that was like their clubhouse. I loved that show. And I think it planted some seed in my head. That's what making movies was like. The lot was just your home, and you wander in and out of Western sets, and you can hang out in the water tower." Hypothetically, Dot would probably catcall, "Hello, Nurse!" and jump into his arms as lampooning celebrities was a popular bit.

Animaniacs (Official) Trailer | A Hulu Original
Image courtesy of Hulu

The original series, which ran for five seasons from 1993-1998, not only featured the siblings but also a mix of other characters in their standalone cartoons. Episodes typically consisted of three segments: the first and third featured the Warners, and the second featured different original characters. Bookending the segments were shorts. The series was revived in 2020 for a three-season run for Hulu from Wellesley Wild, updated for contemporary times, but the second segment featured their second most popular characters in Pinky & the Brain, voiced by Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche. The mousy duo, which generated their four-season spinoff in 1995, contrived over-the-top plans to take over the world to futility. For more on Gosling's life, including a shot of him at the Warners Bros. water tower, you can check out the piece here. Universal's The Fall Guy, which also stars Emily Blunt, Hannah Waddingham, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Stephanie Hsu, comes to theaters on May 3rd.


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Tom ChangAbout Tom Chang

I'm a follower of pop culture from gaming, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, film, and TV for over 30 years. I grew up reading magazines like Starlog, Mad, and Fangoria. As a writer for over 10 years, Star Wars was the first sci-fi franchise I fell in love with. I'm a nerd-of-all-trades.
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