Ermac, Raffy (4 April 2023). "Here Are All the Actors Playing Ken in the New 'Barbie' Movie". www.out.com . Retrieved 12 May 2023. Neporent, Liz (10 March 2011). "Ken Doll Turns 50, Looks His Age". ABC News . Retrieved 5 July 2021. But Ken wasn’t exactly popular or even considered essential among diehard Barbie collectors. In her book “Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll,” M.G. Lord writes that Ken was a “drip with seriously abridged genitalia who wasn’t very important in (Barbie’s) life.” He’d have an uphill battle to prove his worth to consumers — and to his toy girlfriend. Dr. Ken & Little Patient Tommy (#18898, 1998) details and value". BarbieDB.com . Retrieved 28 July 2022. Delve into the history of Barbie’s male counterpart, from his origins as Kenneth Carson to his tumultuous breakup with Barbie in the mid-2000s to his rebirth, via Ryan Gosling, on the big screen.

Dijker, Anton J.M. (1 March 2008). "Why Barbie feels heavier than Ken: The influence of size-based expectancies and social cues on the illusory perception of weight". Cognition. 106 (3): 1109–1125. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2007.05.009. ISSN 0010-0277. PMID 17599820. S2CID 26233026. In July, Gosling went on “The Tonight Show” for said Ken-less film and again turned the conversation toward Ken.Billy Flanigan appeared as Ken in " Disney’s Magical World of Barbie". [81] René Dif appeared as Ken in the music video for " Barbie Girl". Joseph Pisani (20 June 2017). "Barbie's companion Ken gets new looks: Man bun, beefy bod". www.abqjournal.com. Associated Press . Retrieved 26 July 2021.

Ken does not appear in any 1961 store catalogues until Christmas (at least I’ve discovered none so far), and they all feature ‘brownette’ Kens only. The only exception is the Western Auto Fall Winter catalogue, which shows the original prototype, and has no mention of hair colour. The Spiegel catalogue shows Ken with a pink towel. However, the written description states “Towel not incl.”, which presumably means that the pink towel was never commercially available. From 1961-62 Western Auto Fall Winter catalogue From 1961 Spiegel Christmas catalogue From 1961 General Merchandise Company catalogue From 1961 Aldens Christmas Book Ken Cool Careers Baseball Outfit (#2950, 1991) details and value". BarbieDB.com . Retrieved 28 July 2022. Ken Doll Vintage Mod Clothes Identified 1969-1976". www.dollreference.com . Retrieved 29 July 2022. King, Susan (2 May 2010). "The Actors: 'Toy Story 3's' Michael Keaton". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 12 September 2021. The Man Behind The Doll presents Earring Magic Ken". Man Behind The Doll. 1 July 1993 . Retrieved 16 August 2010.Barbie® and Ken® Fashionistas™ celebrate diversity and offer endless possibilities for storytelling and fashion exploration. With this inclusive range of dolls, kids can see how fun it is to express personality through style! They're an ideal gift for fashion-loving kids everywhere. Each sold separately, subject to availability. Dolls cannot stand alone. Colors and decorations may vary. Barbie and Ken: History". Blogcritics.org. Archived from the original on 14 February 2006 . Retrieved 16 August 2010. Various iterations of Ken appear in the 2023 live-action Barbie film, with the lead Ken being played by Ryan Gosling, and others being played by Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans and John Cena. [86] Names [ edit ] Ken Cool Career Fashions Coach (#866, 1992) details and value". BarbieDB.com . Retrieved 28 July 2022.