Ryan Gosling as Ken Ryan Gosling, 42, takes on the role of Barbie's boyfriend, Ken. Born in Canada, Gosling got his start as a child actor on The Mickey Mouse Club in the 1990s and gained widespread recognition for his role as Noah in the 2004 romantic drama The Notebook.
Barbie® doll's boyfriend, Ken®, debuted two years after Barbie® in 1961. Ken® doll's official birthday is March 11, 1961 – making Ken® 2 days and 2 years younger than Barbie®.
Simu Liu plays another Ken, who is the rival of Gosling's Ken, and is constantly competing against him to win the affection of the stereotypical Barbie. Liu is still fresh off his acclaimed turn in the Marvel universe as the titular hero in Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
The film stars Margot Robbie as the title character and Ryan Gosling as Ken, and follows the pair on a journey of self-discovery following an existential crisis.
In a 1961 commercial announcing Ken, the voiceover goes: “It all started at a dance. Barbie, the famous fashion doll, felt that this night was special. And then it happened: she met Ken and somehow she knew that and Ken and her would be going together. So now Mattel brings you Ken, Barbie's boyfriend.”
Like you ever thought about Ken before this?” Which Ken is Ryan Gosling supposed to be in 'Barbie'? Technically, Ken has no official age (he is a doll, after all) although he was first introduced as Barbie's boyfriend on March 11, 1961, which means he has been around for 62 years.
Ken (short for Kenneth Carson) hit the toy aisle as Barbie's buyable boyfriend two years after her 1959 debut. He was available in two styles — blond or brunette hair, made of hard plastic — and came dressed in very short red swim trunks. He cost $3.50 and shared a name with the son of Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler.
And then there's ex-pro wrestler-turned-actor John Cena, who also plays a Ken in “Barbie”: Merman Ken, or Kenmaid, to be exact. Talking to FM104 presenter Crossy, Margot Robbie said the cameo in the film happened entirely by chance.
“Pregnant Barbie” is actually Margaret Hadley Sherwood, or Midge, as her friends call her. Midge was created to be a less glam, more relatable Barbie, per Buzzfeed News. The doll was launched in 1963 as Barbie's bestie. She had freckles and red hair, and she wore less makeup than Barbie did.
Malibu Ken, the first African-American Ken doll, came along in 1982. Growing up, my parents didn't buy me Barbie dolls because they didn't look like me.
Allan is, indeed, a real Mattel toy. Allan was named after Ruth Handler's son-in-law, and was introduced in 1964 (after Barbie in 1959 and Ken in 1961) as Ken's best friend—who could also fit into all of his clothes.
Brad (1970): This African American male doll was available in two versions: Talking Brad and Brad with Bendable Legs. He was made from an all-new face sculpt that is known as the Brad face sculpt. The Brad character was introduced as a boyfriend for the Christie character.
Relationships. He and Barbie are shown to be friends, however, Ryan makes it apparent that he loves her and wants to be more then friends. He and Ken are enemies, always trying to win over barbie. Ryan never being able to win her over because ken and barbie are already dating.
Today, the doll itself is 64 years old; in 2023, Barbie would technically be 83 years old if she aged. However, toy company Mattel has said that she's perpetually frozen in time at the age of 19. Despite her ageless appearance, Barbie holds a wide array of adult careers.
After more than forty years of dating, the duo consciously uncoupled. “Like other celebrity couples, their Hollywood romance has come to an end,” Russell Arons, then vice president of marketing at Mattel, said in a 2004 statement.
Although the doll was part of a 'Happy Family' line of dolls, there was backlash at the time for endorsing 'teenage pregnancy', so the road towards endorsing a liberating world through Barbie dolls has admittedly not always been smooth. Regardless, for Ruth the idea was to keep Barbie single and child free.
Apparently, Barbie will never get married. According to the wishes of Barbie creator Ruth Handler, part of Barbie's appeal to young children was that she defied patriarchal norms, and would never walk down the aisle toward Ken or have children.
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling say their characters don't kiss in "Barbie" because it wouldn't have made sense logistically. The Ken actor said in a recent joint interview with the Barbie actor that kissing was in the initial plans, but didn't make the final cut.
While some on social are wondering how Barbie snagged a girlfriend before them, or when exactly she came out, Aimee Song weighed in to make the relationship Twitter-official.
Calculating Barbie's age from her manufacturing debut, the first Barbie doll is now over 64 years old. Considering that Barbie was created as a 19-year-old doll, she could technically be up to 83 years old. However, in the past, Mattel has reportedly said that Barbie is frozen in time at age 19.
Barbie and Ken are one of pop culture's most famous couples. But the plastic dolls were named after real people, and they weren't a couple – they were siblings. Ruth Handler's children resented the dolls named after them and didn't buy any for their own children.
A standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches (29 cm) tall, giving a height of 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) at 1/6 scale. Barbie's vital statistics have been estimated at 36 inches (91 cm) (chest), 18 inches (46 cm) (waist) and 33 inches (84 cm) (hips).
