Oscar nominations 2024: Ryan Gosling is the most searched-for actor on Google

Ryan Gosling has been revealed as the most searched-for actor on Google. New data which has looked at the search volume for the last year for some of the 2024 acting nominees has found that the 43-year-old comes out on top with a whopping average of 1,713,600 Google searches per month.

Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Ken in Greta Gerwig's Barbie film, receiving critical acclaim for his performance and his rendition of the Oscar-nominated song, "I’m Just Ken."

Barbie is one of the most popular movies of the past 12 months, and even gave rise to the cultural term "Barbenheimer", which saw cinema-goers view both Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day, complete with outfit changes and TikTok reactions.

Much to the shock of fans his co-star and Barbie lead, Margot Robbie, was snubbed in the nominations for Best Actress, as was Gerwig for Best Director.

Gosling has spoken out about the snub in a statement released on Wednesday (January 24). He revealed that whilst he was "honoured" to have received the nomination, "there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie."

The research looked at Google search figures for every month from the past year across the US and calculated a monthly average to provide a ranking of the most searched actors. Following close behind Gosling was fellow Best Actor Oscar nominee Cillian Murphy, with an average of 1,247,100 Google searches per month.

In third place was Killers of the Flower Moon star Robert De Niro, with an average of 832,400 Google searches per month. The two-time Oscar winner received his ninth nomination, for Best Supporting Actor.

In fourth place was Bradley Cooper with an average of 788,600 Google searches per month. Cooper is also nominated in the Best Actor category for his role in Maestro, a film which he both directed and produced. The actor did receive criticism for the role, in which he wore a prosthetic nose to depict the iconic composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. 

And in fifth place was Robert Downey Jr. with an average of 760,000 Google searches a month. The Oppenheimer star was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category. He is a firm favourite, having already picked up a Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award earlier this month.