Actor Ryan Gosling says those who harbour a dream to become big in Hollywood don't know whether it's a premonition or a delusion.

The 33-year-old, who was born and raised in Ontario, Canada, left everything familiar behind to pursue his Hollywood dreams.

"Everyone's left their family, their homes, their friends (and) their jobs, to pursue a dream, where they know that the percentage of them achieving that dream is never and they do it anyway," contactmusic.com quoted Gosling as saying.

"Everyone has shared the same dream and no one knows whether it's a premonition or a delusion," he added.

"The Notebook" star admits luck plays a part in securing an audition and insists nerves and fear of the competition can often get in the way.

"You're lucky to get an audition. Then you get it, you get there (at the audition), you walk into a room full of guys that look just like you. You realise that you're not the only one that wore a cowboy hat.

"Then you can hear the other guy in the other room auditioning. Now you're thinking about not doing it like him as oppose to doing it the way you wanted to do it," Gosling said.