Ryan Gosling may be a bankable leading man and Oscar nominee, but he could have had a very different fate.
Back when the 32-year-old actor was a young kid singing and dancing in the Mickey Mouse Club, Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean approached Gosling about joining his boy band.
"When I was doing the 'Mickey Mouse Club,' we were living in the same place. He was saying how big they were going to be," Gosling explained to Celebuzz of McLean. "And he had a poster of them in his house …We were like, it's never going to happen."
'"Didn't they already do that with New Kids [On the Block]? You're a little late," Gosling says he thought at the time. "Cut to... I was wrong."
The Backstreet Boys went on to become the best-selling boy band of all time, selling over 130 million records worldwide.
Gosling, meanwhile, has since earned an Oscar nomination for his role in 2007's "Half Nelson," starred in a string of box office hits such as "Drive" and "The Ides of March," and currently stars in "Gangster Squad."
As for his missed shot at a spot in a famous boy band, Gosling joked to Celebuzz, "I can't live in the past. I've got to live in the now. That ship has sailed."
Meanwhile McLean spoke out to apologize for his ungentlemanly behavior, going so far as to offer the actor a role as a member of the group.
Explaining he does not have Ryan's number, he said: "I am so sorry I didn't call you back, dude. If we ever want a sixth Backstreet Boy, I'm going to call you."
When McLean does call, we know Gosling will be ready.
Check out his moves from 1991 when he was just an 11-year-old in drop-crotch pants and a silk shirt lip-syncing and break dancing in a Mormon talent show alongside his sister.
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