Sexiest Man Living 2007

Who: Jeffrey Wright
Age: 41
Know him as: Actor

Jeffrey Wright is a consummate second banana. He has a Tony, a Golden Globe and an Emmy -- all for best supporting actor (and all three for the same role: the flamboyant nurse Belize in "Angels in America"). True, he's shared the bill on Broadway in Suzan-Lori Parks' "Topdog/Underdog" and played the title role in Julian Schnabel's film Basquiat." But Wright is still better known as the Felix to Daniel Craig's James Bond and for his ensemble work in films like "The Invasion," "Syriana," "Ali" and "The Manchurian Candidate."

Yet whether he's sporting a tuxedo in "Casino Royale" or eyeliner in "Angels in America," whether he's got second billing or falls considerably lower in the credits, Jeffrey Wright makes every scene he's in his own. Any actor who can stand by while Al Pacino chews scenery and make you watch him instead, who can turn a simple scene of painting a picture into a balletic physical performance, is an actor who can fascinate through sheer force of his charisma -- and a whole lot of straight-up talent.

He's the actor whose depth and intelligence are no mere performance, the sex symbol with a degree in political science. With his slightly freckly face, deep brown eyes and rich, throaty purr of a voice, Wright never fights for your attention. He just smiles enigmatically and knows you'll give it anyway.

But while Wright can put a quiet razzle-dazzle into even the most tantalizingly minimal screen time, we prefer when there's more of him to love. Next year, we get our wish. He's currently attached to the forthcoming adaptation of "Little Scarlet." In the potentially breakout role of Walter Mosley's tough, complicated P.I. Easy Rawlins, Hollywood's favorite second fiddle may finally become the top dog he truly is.

-- Mary Elizabeth Williams

Who: Matt Damon
Age: 37
Know him as: Actor

Turns out Matt Damon is People's Sexiest Man Alive. I don't care: I'd still like to be him.

Mainly that's what it is, why straight men like me perk up at that wide grin, the triangle jaw and schoolboy hair; why online speculation regarding a fourth mission for Jason Bourne gets us more click-happy than the tagline "NSFW"; and why, even when he's sharing the screen with the chillingly beautiful Franka Potente, not to mention the tepid Julia Stiles, it's Damon we gawk at in slack-jawed wonder.

The dude, face it, has long been pretty enough to rock People's cover. Matt-lover's trivia: Everyone around him -- friends Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey and "Ocean" frat mates Brad Pitt and George Clooney -- have been SMAs. They kid him that his relentless campaign for the title will one day pay off. This year the smart money was on him, and the smart money won.

But I posit he's different from previous SMAs. Not that I've done any surveys, but I suspect he's the first who appeals more to men than ladies: While the women I know find Damon bland, for men -- well, for me -- he represents the movie persona worthiest of emulation. That's not exactly sexy -- he doesn't conjure the same emotions as Franka Potente -- as much as it is irresistible. Irresistible the way Roger Federer and Macgyver and John McClane are irresistible, and also the way Novocain is. If you're packing a Y-chromosome, to watch Damnon as Bourne -- like for instance in the third one, the time he slinks into the intelligence baddie's office after punking everyone into chasing him elsewhere, a trademark move -- is to become absolutely numb with envy. You think, Tell me, is there some place I can sign up to be so straight-up badass?

Associates have suggested the possibility that I'm more entranced by Damon's characters -- specifically Bourne -- than I am with the actor himself. But this is a distinction without much difference: To us commoners Damon and Bourne and his other onscreen men aren't really separate individuals. Each media role feeds into the other, reinforcing the other's plain awesomeness. So the things I like about Damon -- that he's clearly smart but not preeningly so (as Clooney can be), that in interviews he's quickly clever and sly, that he appreciates a joke, that he is built -- are also the things I like about Bourne.

I'll cop to this being a little disturbing, that I've ascribed traits to an actor -- a real person -- based on the fictional characters he's played. I am not usually a celeb cultist, and of course I understand the silliness of thinking that Matt Damon is probably a nice guy because, say, the energy analyst he plays in "Syriana" is stand-up, or that the energy analyst is also probably pretty cunning, too, because Damon's Ripley, from another movie altogether, was that way. But isn't this the essence of stardom -- that in an actor's every role we glimpse things we picked up in previous roles, that the actor's life and his characters become, in the sequential rush of images and stories, a full life to be either acclaimed or deplored?

So maybe it's the parts he plays or the way he plays them. I'm not fully sure, but either way, Damon's life comes to us as a thing of perfection -- he's a tough man who isn't overwhelmed by his physical prowess, whose real strength is his mind, and who, even when isn't doing nice things, can charm you to bits (see Ripley and also "The Departed's" Sgt. Colin Sullivan). Hey, what man wouldn't want to be that guy?

-- Farhad Manjoo

Who: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Age: 44
Know him as: Filmmaker

Every time I see an image of Alejandro González Iñárritu I ask myself what such a fine-looking man is doing behind the camera: The suave cineaste's looks are on par with the Adonis-like actors that he puts on-screen (Gael García Bernal, Benicio del Toro, Brad Pitt). Then I pop one of his films into my DVD player and am reminded why: The man is a master.

Iñárritu's splintered, temporally scrambled narratives hinge on collisions, both actual and cultural. In 2000, he burst onto the screen with "Amores Perros," a jarring, bloody romp through Mexico City told through three intersecting plotlines. (Variations of this now-signature structure are employed in his subsequent films.) Applauded by critics at Cannes and nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign language film, "Amores Perros" immediately established Iñárritu as a formidable talent. With his second, English-language film, "21 Grams" (2003), Iñárritu penetrated the consciousness of mainstream American moviegoers. His most recent picture, "Babel," earned seven Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best director. And as if that weren't cool enough, he gets to knock back drinks with friends and compatriot filmmakers Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth") and Alfonso Cuarón ("Y tu mamá también," "Children of Men").

Iñárritu is a man of substance and style. Exhibit A: the scarves that he rocks with Aristide Bruantian panache, even though he lives in L.A. (Actually, what's with that? Don't care -- I love it. He makes winterizing hot.) His sculptural features, careless hair and Mexican accent make an archetypical sex symbol of Iñárritu but it is his cinematic genius that cements his immortality, for he will live on in film. Iñárritu makes exhilarating art of ugly realities. Watching his films, we are both unsettled and seduced.

-- Megan Doll

Name: Billy Parish
Age: 26
Know him as: Clean energy activist

Fighting global warming, hot? It is if you're Yale dropout Billy Parish, who gave up his shot at an Ivy League degree to devote himself full-time to the cause, running the Energy Action Coalition, a group of some 40 youth organizations working for clean energy. Whether he's challenging universities to curb their CO2 emissions or fasting to protest Congress' inaction on global warming, Parish has couch-surfed his way into our hearts. His unshakable idealism and optimism in the face of the biggest threat to the planet today gives even us complacent and cynical oldsters hope.

A newlywed since September, Parish announced his nuptials via e-mail, naturally. "It was, forgive the cliché, the happiest day of my life," wrote the groom -- then he asked recipients to spread the word about Power Shift 2007, the first national youth summit aimed at solving the climate crisis, which was held in early November, and Step It Up 2007, the national day of action on climate change held on Nov. 3, which inspired actions and rallies in all 50 states. (There was no consumeristic frenzy around Parish's wedding: The groom and his bride, Wahleah Johns, herself an environmental activist with the Black Mesa Water Coalition, requested that well-wishers donate to their respective organizations in lieu of buying them traditional CO2-intensive wedding gifts.)

We (heart) Billy for proving wrong those who scold young people for not being politically active about climate change. By networking the youth movement for clean energy, Parish is not only helping make the YouTube generation's voice heard offline, he's speaking up for generations to come, who will suffer the worst impacts of rising sea levels and a warmer world.

Parish even signs his activist e-mails "with love," as well as this quotation from Martin Luther King: "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." Love on, Billy!

-- Salon staff

Next page: Let's hear it for the man with the mustache