Ryan Gosling shares two children with his longtime partner, actress Eva Mendes.The couple’s older daughter, Esmeralda Amada Gosling, arrived in 2014.The couple welcomed their younger daughter, Amada Lee Gosling, in 2016.

While Ryan Gosling has played more memorable roles than you could count on one hand, he’ll always be most proud of being a dad. The Project Hail Mary star shares two daughters with longtime partner Eva Mendes: Esmeralda Amada Gosling, born in 2014, and Amada Lee Gosling, born in 2016.

Before they were a real-life family, Gosling, 45, and Mendes, 52, played a fictional one in the 2012 crime drama The Place Beyond the Pines. Their couple casting would prove to be kismet, the Canadian actor told GQ in 2023. “I wasn’t thinking about kids before I met her, but after I met Eva, I realized that I just didn’t want to have kids without her,” he said. “There were moments on [set] where we were pretending to be a family, and I didn’t really want it to be pretend anymore. I realized that this would be a life I would be really lucky to have.”

Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling attend “The Place Beyond The Pines” premiere in 2012.

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Mendes echoed her partner’s sentiment in a 2019 interview with Women’s Health. Asked what happened to change her mind about becoming a mother, the 2 Fast 2 Furious star said, “Ryan Gosling happened. I mean, falling in love with him. Then it made sense for me to have…not kids, but his kids. It was very specific to him.”

The private couple are raising Esmeralda and Amada out of the spotlight, intentionally making the choice not to post photos of their children on social media. Still, they have made a few comments about parenting and making memories with their kids in interviews over the years. Ahead, here’s everything Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes have shared about their two kids.

Esmeralda Amada Gosling

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes at Tao Restaurant in NYC in September 2017.

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Gosling and Mendes welcomed their first child, Esmeralda Amada, on September 12, 2014. She was born in Santa Monica, California. 

Mendes chose the name Esmeralda after the character in the classic Victor Hugo novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, per ABC News. Her daughter’s middle name is a tribute to her grandmother and means “beloved” in Spanish, she revealed in the same Violet Grey interview.

The actress has expressed gratitude that the couple started a family later in life, telling People she didn’t feel ready for kids in her 20s. “When I was 40, it was a big deal for people when I was pregnant, and it wasn’t for me,” Mendes told the magazine for its 2024 ‘Beautiful’ issue. “And then I was 42 and I was pregnant with my second one and people were like, ‘Oh my God, you’re going to be so tired. That’s why people have kids in their 20s.’ I was like, that’s the most sorry, asinine thing I’ve ever heard.”

Eva Mendes visiting Ronald McDonald House in Sydney in November 2022.

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Mendes got a special shoutout from Gosling when he accepted a Golden Globe for his performance in La La Land in 2017—as he highlighted how it couldn’t have happened without her stepping up for their kids. “While I was singing and dancing and playing piano and having one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on a film, my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with our second and trying to help her brother fight his battle with cancer,” he said. “Sweetheart, thank you. To my daughters, Amada and Esmeralda, I love you.” Gosling dedicated the award to Mendes’ late brother, Carlos Mendez.

In March 2024, Mendes similarly thanked her partner in an Instagram post for “holding down the fort at home” with their girls while she “live[d] the Dolce Evita for a couple days”—aka attending a glamorous Dolce & Gabbana event. Her accompanying Instagram Reel sees her strutting down a wood-panelled hallway in a chic black ensemble, covered with a floaty sheer robe.

While she continues to do modeling and other business ventures, Mendes stepped away from acting to focus on being a mom to Esmeralda and Amada. “It was like a no-brainer,” she said of the decision in a March 2024 appearance on the Today show. “[I was like], I’m so lucky if I could have this time with my children.”

Ryan Gosling at the 96th Annual Academy Awards in March 2024.

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As Esmeralda and her sister have grown up, they’ve enjoyed a few public outings with their parents—like attending the 2024 Paris Olympics together—but Gosling and Mendes prefer to keep their daughters out of the spotlight. The actors have chosen not to post photos of Esmeralda and Amada on social media until the girls are old enough to make an informed decision about what’s shared.

“Since my children are still so little and don’t understand what posting their image really means, I don’t have their consent. And I won’t post their image until they’re old enough to give me consent,” Mendes wrote in an Instagram comment in 2020, per People.

With Esmeralda fast approaching her teen years, the longtime couple are focused on soaking up each moment with their kids. “I know these moments are fleeting. I just want to be with them. Whatever I’m doing, as long as I’m with them and Ryan, of course, that’s where I’m happiest,” Mendes told New Beauty in June 2025. 

Recently, Gosling opened up about something that bonds his partner and their daughters: critiquing his movies. Speaking to Access Hollywood in February 2026, the actor shared that his family had seen “multiple cuts” of his film Project Hail Mary, and they had thoughts. “They give me lots of notes. They’re basically the only critics I care about,” he said, adding jokingly that Esmeralda and her younger sister Amada are “very critical and very honest.”

Talking to Extra TV the same month, he elaborated on some of their best feedback. “With the start of the character [in Project Hail Mary] I was playing with looks for the character, and my daughter walked by. I had some glasses on. She goes, ‘You look smarter in glasses.’ And I was like…’I need to look smart. I will wear glasses.’ It was a great note.”

Amada Lee Gosling

Esmeralda became a big sister a few months before her second birthday. Gosling and Mendes welcomed their second child, daughter Amada Lee, on April 29, 2016. Her first name (also Esmeralda’s middle name) is a tribute to Mendes’ grandmother.

In January 2026, Mendes got in on the 2016 nostalgia trend by sharing a carousel of throwback photos to Instagram and candidly reflecting on the year she welcomed Amada. “2016 – I was hiding my second pregnancy from the public, made some pretty cool biz moves, and heartbreakingly, my brother John passed,” she began the post’s caption, adding, “Thank God my youngest was born and saved the family. ♥️.”

Along with her sister, Amada loves to give their mom adorable makeovers. Mendes has previously shared the results of the creative mother-daughter glam sessions to her Instagram, often sporting a rainbow of scribbled colors. “They’ve won ❤️,” she captioned one now-deleted post, per People.

Eva Mendes reading her book ‘Desi, Mami, And The Never-Ending Worries’ on September 18, 2024.

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Besides their passion for makeup, it’s likely the model’s daughters will inherit her love of fashion—and her covetable wardrobe. Mendes told People in 2019 that looking at old photographs of her mother’s aspirational style prompted her to “save a bunch of stuff” for Esmeralda and Amada.

“I look at my mom and I’ll be like, ‘Mom, where is that dress?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh my God, that dress. I didn’t even like that dress. I gave it away.’ And I’m like, ‘I would die for this dress right now,’” Mendes recalled to the outlet.

“I have so many of those moments that I definitely save a bunch of stuff, for [Amada and Esmeralda],” she added. “We didn’t have much money at all, growing up. So my mom’s clothes weren’t quality, but they were so cool. I’m like, ‘Why didn’t you save this for me?’“

Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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Perhaps the biggest gift Mendes and Gosling hope to pass down to their girls is that of self-confidence. Mendes has been open about how she and Gosling don’t let their young kids use social media. “I think everything starts in the home—everything,” the Hitch actress told Byrdie in 2022, per People. “So hopefully Ryan and I are doing the work by just loving them, completely loving them, and doing most of that work for them so that they grow up feeling like they’re enough.”

While their kids won’t be getting as much screentime, they have something better to entertain them: A cute doodle mix named Magic. Mendes introduced the family’s new dog in November 2024, posting a clip of the rescue pup to her Instagram. “Meet the newest member of our family … Magic!!!” she captioned the post, revealing that she and Gosling adopted Magic through California Doodle Rescues.