How Eva Mendes Supported Ryan Gosling Backstage at the 2024 Oscars

He's just Ken, but to wife Eva Mendes, Ryan Gosling is everything. 

While the actress rarely works the red carpet as the Barbie to Gosling's Ken—"We don't do those things together," she explained to one fan on Instagram last year when asked if she'd be dolling up for the Barbie press tour—she's consistently there to remind him that he's Kenough. 

"Always by my man," she captioned a March 10 Instagram of herself outside his dressing room backstage at the 2024 Oscars. (While she wasn't among the stars on the red carpet, you can check out Gosling and the other celebs here.)

So whether or not she's among the crowd at Los Angeles Dolby Theatre to see if Gosling bests American Fiction's Sterling K. Brown, Killers of the Flower Moon's Robert De Niro, Oppenheimer's Robert Downey Jr. and Poor Things' Mark Ruffalo for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role trophy (see all the nominated stars here), there's no doubt she'll be telling him how good he is at beach.  

"So proud of my man," she wrote Jan. 24 on Instagram when the Oscar nominations, including eight for Barbie, were announced, posting a screengrab from a 2022 article that suggested Gosling was "giving major cringe" as Ken. "So much hate when he took on this role. So many people trying to shame him for doing it. Despite all the #Notmyken ridicule and articles written about him, he created this completely original, hilarious, heartbreaking, now iconic character and took it all the way to Oscars. So beyond proud to be this Ken's Barbie."

So, yes, she'll be cheering loud—whether from the audience, Gosling's dressing room or at home on the couch with their daughters Esmeralda, 9, and Amada, 7—when the Academy Award nominee takes to the stage to perform the Barbie breakout track "I'm Just Ken" alongside the song's cowriter Mark Ronson.

"It's an absolutely bananas spectacle," Ronson told Live from E!: Oscars host Laverne Cox on the red carpet. "We're only going to ever get to perform this song maybe once with Ryan, he's kind of put us all on his shoulders, or Ken's shoulders. We were backstage before like, 'We can't believe we're a part of this.' So it's very exciting."

And while of course Gosling is hoping that his life in plastic translates to a fantastic night at the 2024 Academy Awards, his life at home with Mendes is way more than Kenough. 

"I got to meet the girl of my dreams, Eva Mendes," he told the crowd while accepting the the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Jan. 13 event. "I have two dream children. I dreamed of one day making movies and now movies have made my life a dream."

"So the way I see it, there's no way I've contributed half as much to cinema as cinema has contributed to me," he continued. "But the idea that I might've given something back to the thing that has given so much to me is too great an honor for me to express."

Before seeing if he adds more hardware to his collection, check Gosling and all the stars at the 2024 Oscars. 

In Armani Privé and Bulgari jewelry.

In Versace FW24 RTW.

In custom Giambattista Valli Haute Couture with Tiffany & Co. jewelry.

In Dolce & Gabbana.

In custom Louis Vuitton.

In custom Armani Privé.

In custom Atelier Versace.

In Elie Saab SS24 Couture and Chopard jewelry.

In Chanel.

In Giorgio Armani.

Gabrielle Union in Carolina Herrera PF24 with Tiffany & Co. jewelry and Dwyane Wade in custom Ateliee Versace.

In custom Brunello Cucinelli.

In Louis Vuitton with Omega watch.

In custom Mônot.

In Vera Wang Couture and Chopard jewelry.

In AMI Paris.

In custom Rodarte with Briony Raymond jewelry