Ryan Gosling was once told he was perfect for a film role because he wasn't "handsome" and looked "a bit nuts".

The sought-after actor is widely considered one of Hollywood's hottest hunks, but Ryan insists this wasn't always the case.

He was cast in 2004 romantic drama The Notebook alongside Rachel McAdams as a relative unknown. Ryan has recalled the film's director Nick Cassavetes saying he was a great fit for the male lead as he had no star quality.

"The director, Nick Cassavetes, called me to meet him at his house," he explained in an interview with British magazine Company. "When I got there, he was standing in his back yard, and he looked at me and said, 'I want you to play this role because you're not like the other young actors out there in Hollywood. You're not handsome, you're not cool, you're just a regular guy who looks a bit nuts.'"

Ryan admits that he was a "lonely child" who "didn't do well at school and TV was [his] only friend." The 31-year-old says it was his love of watching the small-screen that inspired him to tackle the infamously fickle film industry.

"Then, one day, I saw Raquel Welch on The Muppet Show. She was dancing with this big furry spider and I immediately fell in love," he recalled.

"She was the first crush I ever had, and I thought, 'How do I get to meet this woman?' And then I thought, 'Well, she's on TV, so to meet her I have to get on TV myself."