All About Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes's Two Kids (And How Playing a Family Onscreen Inspired Them to Start One IRL)

The former co-stars never imagined themselves having kids—until they found each other.

Key Points

• ‘Ryan Gosling shares two daughters with his longtime partner, actress Eva Mendes.
• Gosling and Mendes welcomed their older daughter, Esmeralda Amada Gosling, in 2014.
• The couple welcomed their younger daughter, Amada Lee Gosling, in 2016. They choose not to share pictures of their kids.

When Ryan Gosling isn’t lighting up the big screen, he’s stepping into the role of dad. The three-time Oscar nominee shares two daughters with longtime partner Eva Mendes: 10-year-old Esmeralda Amada and 9-year-old Amada Lee.

Before they were a real-life family, Gosling and Mendes played one in the 2012 crime drama The Place Beyond the Pines. The actor told GQ in a 2023 cover story, "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. 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.”

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.”

While they’ve enjoyed public outings as a family—like attending the 2024 Paris Olympics together—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.

The private couple have opened up about parenting on occasion, sharing silly anecdotes and happy memories they’ve made with their kids. Here’s everything to know about Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes’ children.

Esmeralda Amada Gosling

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.”

Like their Cuban mother, Gosling and Mendes’ daughters are bilingual. “Esmeralda mostly speaks Spanglish right now,” the Ghost Rider actress told People Chica in 2018, per Remezcla. “It’s really cute. She’s definitely bilingual, and it’s really important for us to make sure that she’s not only familiar with the language, but also with the culture.”

Gosling thanked his partner and daughters in his 2017 Golden Globes acceptance speech for his performance in La La Land, which he co-starred in with Emma Stone. 

"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, who died the previous year.

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. 

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.

Along with her sister, Amada loves to give their mom makeovers. Mendes has 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.

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?’“

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."