Justin Timberlake proud of pal Ryan Gosling

Justin Timberlake has heaped praise on his former Mickey Mouse Club co-star Ryan Gosling, insisting he's one of the finest young actors in Hollywood.

The pop star-turned-actor grew up with Ryan Gosling and the two castmates even lived together as their TV careers took off - and Justin Timberlake is very proud of his pal's success.

He says, "He's unbelievable, I think one of the best actors of our generation... He is working a lot too. It's hard to keep up with him."

And the Cry Me a River hitmaker tells TV host Ellen DeGeneres he has very fond memories of hanging out with Ryan Gosling when the two pre-teens were on the verge of stardom.

He adds, "His mother had to keep her job in Canada the second year that we were on the television show and my mom was his guardian for, like, six months, so we actually lived together.

"We were probably a little closer than the rest of the kids that were on the show just because we had to share a bathroom.

"We used to do terrible things. We thought we were so cool when we were on the Mickey Mouse Club. Looking back on them, they weren't as bad as I thought they were at the time. We stole a golf cart. And we we're like, 'Yeah, man. We're stealing a golf cart...' but... it's, like, on a backlot; there's golf carts everywhere.

"We stole the golf cart and we drove into MGM Studios, which is totally illegal by the way... We went and got milkshakes."