Short answer: As of August 2026, Ryan Gosling has not taken a public position on Israel. He did not sign the pro-Israel Hollywood open letter of October 2023, the Artists4Ceasefire petition, or the later Hollywood boycott-Israel pledge of September 2025, and there is no record of any personal statement, donation, or event appearance tied to Israel or the Israel-Hamas war. He is not Jewish; he was raised in a strict Mormon household in Canada, and he once played a self-hating Jewish neo-Nazi in the 2001 film "The Believer," a fictional role that is sometimes mistaken online for a personal statement.
What Ryan Gosling has actually said and done
2001: Gosling played a Jewish character who becomes a neo-Nazi skinhead in "The Believer." According to Wikipedia, the director cast him partly because his strict Mormon upbringing gave him insight into religious isolation. This was a fictional acting role, not a personal statement on Judaism or Israel, though it still circulates online as if it were.
October 2023: Creative Community for Peace released an open letter signed by roughly 700 Hollywood figures, including Gal Gadot, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Pine, Michael Douglas, Jerry Seinfeld, and Mayim Bialik, condemning Hamas and expressing support for Israel and the hostages taken on October 7. Ryan Gosling's name does not appear among the signatories, according to Vibe and AOL.
October 2023: Separately, the group Artists4Ceasefire formed around a letter to President Biden calling for a Gaza ceasefire, eventually drawing hundreds of entertainment-industry signatures, including Joaquin Phoenix, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, and Susan Sarandon. Gosling's name does not appear on that list either, per Wikipedia.
October 2023: A viral post on X claimed Gosling had "come out publicly in support of Hamas" via a video singing in Arabic. That claim has no corroboration from any news outlet and should be treated as unverified social media noise, not fact. It is mentioned here only because it circulates online and deserves to be debunked plainly.
March 2024: Gosling performed "I'm Just Ken" at the 96th Academy Awards, where several attendees, including Billie Eilish and Ramy Youssef, wore Artists4Ceasefire red pins on the red carpet. According to WWD, there is no report of Gosling wearing the pin or commenting on the war during the ceremony.
September 2025: Hollywood figures including Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Javier Bardem, Olivia Colman, and Mark Ruffalo pledged through Film Workers for Palestine not to work with Israeli production companies, broadcasters, cinemas, or festivals. The pledge passed 2,000 signatories within days, per NPR, and has since grown past 5,000, per the campaign's running count. Gosling's name is absent from it.
September 25, 2025: A counter-letter organized against the boycott drew roughly 1,200 Hollywood signatures, including Liev Schreiber, Mayim Bialik, Gene Simmons, Debra Messing, Greg Berlanti, and Haim Saban. Gosling's name does not appear among these signatories either, according to the Times of Israel.
Who is Ryan Gosling, and why the confusion?
Ryan Gosling, born November 12, 1980, in London, Ontario, Canada, is one of the highest-profile actors working today, known for "La La Land," "Drive," "Blade Runner 2049," and "Barbie." He was raised in a devout Mormon household and left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a teenager. He is not Jewish and has no documented Jewish ancestry or identity connection, which rules out one common source of confusion.
The other source of confusion is professional, not personal: in "The Believer," Gosling played a young man raised Jewish who turns into a violent neo-Nazi. It is a difficult, acclaimed performance, but it is acting. Nothing about the role reflects Gosling's own views on Judaism or Israel, and no interview or public statement ties the role to a real-world position.
Beyond the role and the silence on every major Hollywood letter, there is nothing else to report. No credible source documents Gosling visiting Israel, donating to an Israel-related cause, or giving an interview that addresses the conflict. His documented charitable and advocacy work centers on unrelated causes, including the Enough Project and Invisible Children's work on the Lord's Resistance Army and Darfur in central Africa.
The bottom line
There is no evidence that Ryan Gosling supports Israel, opposes Israel, or has engaged with the issue in any public way. He sat out every major Hollywood letter and pledge on both sides of the Israel-Gaza question between October 2023 and August 2026, and he is not Jewish. Shoppers looking for a Gosling connection to Israel or Jewish identity will not find one. He has stayed silent and unaffiliated, and that is the honest, complete picture.
Wear your own answer, even when celebrities stay quiet
Not every public figure speaks up, but you can. If you want to make your own stance visible, our Support Israel collection includes pieces like the I Stand With Israel bracelet, a simple, everyday way to show where you stand without waiting for Hollywood to catch up.
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
