Ryan Gosling Hails Eva Mendes as 'Girl of My Dreams' in Heartfelt Acceptance Speech

Ryan Gosling offered a sweet shout-out to his best girls while accepting a big honor. The actor gushed over wife Eva Mendes and their two daughters at the Santa Barbara Film Festival on Saturday.

Gosling was awarded the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film, and used the opportunity to offer heartfelt remarks about the impact that cinema has had on his life.

"Most importantly, I got to meet the girl of my dreams, Eva Mendes, and have two dream children," he gushed, receiving a big round of applause from the audience. The future spouses famously met while filming the 2012 crime thriller, The Place Beyond the Pines. Today, the notoriously private couple shares daughters Esmerelda, 9, and Amada, 7.

"I dreamed of one day making movies and now movies have made my life a dream," he said. "So the way I see it, there's no way I've contributed half as much to cinema as cinema has contributed to me, but the idea that I might have given something back to the thing that's given so much to me is too great an honor for me to express."

Gosling's speech came after equally heartfelt tributes from his Barbie director, Greta Gerwig, and Crazy, Stupid, Love co-star, Steve Carell.

See Gosling's speech below.

The next night, Gosling was in attendance at the Critics Choice Awards where he stole the show without saying a word when his song from Barbie, "I'm Just Ken," won Best Song -- beating out odds-on favorite "What Was I Made For" by Billie Eilish, as well as Dua Lipa's Barbie song, "Dance the Night," and a whole slew of other excellent tracks.

When "I'm Just Ken" was announced as the winner, the cameras cut to Gosling in the audience, and it appeared that the actor simply did not comprehend what had actually just happened. In fact, he almost looked suspicious, as if it was some sort of elaborate prank.

The announcer declared that the award would be accepted by writers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, as well as Gosling himself -- however, Gosling remained in the audience, cheering Ronson and Wyatt on from the table, while still in total disbelief.

Gosling, 43, previously told ET that his role as Ken was influenced a great deal by his daughters, while he was preparing and playing the part.

"They've seen a lot pieces of [the film], and helped me a lot with it," Gosling shared at the film's premiere in July. "They were huge inspiration for me."

When asked if they found his role funny, Gosling joked, "Yeah, unless it wasn't. And then I worked on it."

Despite helping with his role -- or perhaps because of all the help -- Gosling thinks his daughters might not need to actually see the final product just yet.

"Well, it was, I think, weird enough for them that I played Ken anyway," he said. "I might like, you know, just hold off on them seeing the full Ken energy."

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