MANILA, Philippines – From Hollywood’s box office kings to unexpected heartthrobs, People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive has set the standard of what male attractiveness is and what it means to be “sexy.” Yearly, the magazine highlights Hollywood’s hottest man on the block whose talent and style piques the audience’s attention.
Behind every cover reveal, there’s a story about each celebrity inducted. Some names are household names with numerous accolades under their belt, while the others come from other industries before making it big in the entertainment scene.
Fans anticipate the selection every year, dissecting and analyzing the appeal and charisma that surrounds each man that graces the culturally relevant magazine cover.
Following Jonathan Bailey being named 2025’s Sexiest Man Alive, here’s a look back into People’s Sexiest Man Alive in the past 10 years.
2015: David Beckham
Sir David Beckham stands after he was made a Knight Bachelor at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. November 4, 2025. Andrew Matthews/Pool via REUTERS
Renowned footballer David Beckham first rose to fame as a right midfielder for Manchester United in 1992, at the age of 17. He went on to play for Spanish team Real Madrid and American team LA Galaxy before retiring in May 2013 as a player for the France-based Paris Saint-Germain.
He appeared in the FIFA World Cup thrice as a member of England’s national team for the years 1998, 2002, and 2006.
He is married to Spice Girls member and fashion icon Victoria Beckham, in a highly publicized relationship, and they have four children: Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz, and Harper.
In 2023, the couple collaborated with streaming giant Netflix on Beckham, a four-part docuseries revolving around their lives individually and as a family. Victoria, also known as Posh Spice, starred in her own three-part docuseries on Netflix in October 2025.
David Beckham was awarded an OBE from the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for his contributions to football. On Tuesday, November 4, he was knighted by King Charles during His Highness’ Birthday Honours list after years of being denied knighthood, due to a tax avoidance case that he faced.
2016: Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
Known by his moniker “The Rock,” Dwayne Johnson is an American professional wrestler, actor, and producer.
He made his breakthrough in the wrestling sport, being a prominent person in the well known “Attitude era” of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) — where adult-oriented content was the main attraction compared to its original family friendly matches.
The Rock was lauded as a 10-time world champion in his eight-year wrestling career.
He made his acting debut in 2001 with the action adventure film The Mummy, starring alongside Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, as Mathayus the Akkad, also known as The Scorpion King. Since then, he has appeared in other films like Disney’s Moana as Maui, and in the Fast and the Furious movies as Luke Hobbs.
Johnson also starred in ’90s callback films like adventure comedy film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and action comedy film Baywatch, both of which were released in 2017.
During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, he made a seven-figure donation to the foundation. According to an interview with Variety, SAG-AFTRA president Courtney B. Vance stated that it was the “largest single donation that we’ve ever received from one individual at one time.”
2017: Blake Shelton
Country legend Blake Shelton made waves in the country music scene as early as 2001 when his debut song “Austin” ranked first in the Billboard Hot Country Songs for five consecutive weeks at the release of his self-titled debut album.
The album was awarded platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after selling out a million copies at the time.
The American country singer was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in November 2014. He joins other modern Oklahoman legends like singer-songwriter Carrie Underwood and Wicked superstar Kristin Chenoweth.
Beyond his country music career, he’s also made appearances on television. In 2011, he was announced as one of the four coaches on The Voice, maintaining the role up until his final season in 2022.
2018: Idris Elba
Britain-born actor Idris Elba’s debut on the People cover is one for the history books. He’s the first black celebrity to be featured in the 2000s after actor Denzel Washington’s feature in 1996.
But before he was included in the feature, Elba took on the lead role of John Luther in the psychological crime thriller Luther that aired on BBC One. It ran from 2010 to 2019, and with his performance he took home a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.
He’s a familiar face to the fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as he portrayed Heimdall, the protector of the Bifrost in the first three Thor films, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the box office hit Avengers: Infinity War. He also starred alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham in the Fast and the Furious spin-off movie, Hobbs and Shaw.
Aside from live-action appearances, he’s also made his voice acting with Disney as Chief Bogo in Zootopia and its upcoming sequel, Shere Khan in the live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book, and as the seal Fluke in Finding Dory.
Currently, he voices over Knuckles the Echidna in the Sonic and the Hedgehog trilogy, and its spin-off Paramount+ miniseries Knuckles.
In 2016, the British actor was appointed as Officer in the Order of the British Empire during the New Year Honours List for his services to Drama.
2019: John Legend
The “All of Me” singer-songwriter John Legend didn’t start out in the music industry with his own album.
Before stepping up to that level, he worked behind the scenes as a pianist with the likes of Lauryn Hill, whom he met during his stay at the University of Pennsylvania. He was also featured in uncredited work as a backing vocal in Jay-Z’s “Encore” and Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name.”
After signing under Kanye West’s recording label GOOD Music, he debuted in 2004 with the song “Ordinary People” from his first album Get Lifted. The album went on to reach the Billboard Top 200 and was given a double platinum certification from the RIAA.
Legend isn’t new to the Grammy Awards either, as he currently stands with 39 nominations in various categories from 2006 to 2025 — in which he won 13 awards, including Best R&B Album three times.
His last visit to the country was in March 2018 for the Darkness and Light world tour at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
2020: Michael B. Jordan
American actor Michael B. Jordan, colloquially known to many as “MBJ,” had his feature film debut as a child in the 2001 sports drama film Hardball starring Canadian actor Keanu Reeves.
From there, he rose to fame as Oscar Grant III in the 2013 film Fruitvale Station which followed the story about the real-life criminal case. Directed by Ryan Coogler, he was named by Time magazine as part of the 30 people under 30 who changed the world.
Since the release of Fruitvale Station, Jordan and Coogler have collaborated in five other films. These include Marvel Studios’ Black Panther duology with actor starring as Erik Killmonger, and the vampire horror film Sinners where Jordan played twins Smoke and Stack.
Michael B. Jordan is also known to portray Adonis “Donnie” Creed in the Creed trilogy, a spin-off to the boxing film series Rocky.
The trilogy’s most recent film, Creed III, marked Jordan’s directorial debut. It was released in 2023 starring Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, and Wood Harris among others.
2021: Paul Rudd
For the ’90s kids, American actor Paul Rudd isn’t new to them. Fans would remember Rudd’s 1995 feature film debut in the teen comedy Clueless as Josh Lucas, who ended up being the love interest to Alicia Silverstone’s Cher Horowitz.
He continued this run of ’90s movies as supporting roles in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, The Locusts, and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers in which he was credited under the name Paul Stephen Rudd.
Aside from the big screen, he’s also played roles in TV shows – including Friends as Mike Hannigan, and the most recent Hulu series Only Murders in the Building starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez.
To the comic book heads, he’s known to play protagonist Scott Lang/Ant-Man in the Ant-Man trilogy produced by Marvel Studios. He frequently collaborates with director and producer Judd Apatow, whom Rudd has made five film appearances in.
2022: Chris Evans
Known colloquially as part of Marvel’s “Original Six,” American actor Chris Evans got his start in early 2000s teen movies.
From Not Another Teen Movie to The Perfect Score, he’s gained more attention in the industry for his comic book movies like Fantastic Four as the Johnny Storm/Human Torch and the widely recognized MCU movies as Steve Rogers/Captain America.
With his role as the “star-spangled man with a plan,” he starred in the Steve Rogers-led Captain America trilogy with Hayley Atwell and Sebastian Stan, and the ensemble Avengers movies. According to Box Office Mojo, his movies grossed $844 million and $1.8 billion worldwide respectively.
His previous role as the Human Torch was given a callback in Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s Deadpool & Wolverine, making millennial fans relive the nostalgia of the 2005 cast before the reboot in Fantastic Four: First Steps.
He made his voice acting debut as Buzz Lightyear in 2022, the “film within a film” in the Toy Story universe, as the plot revolves around Buzz Lightyear the pilot where the toy was based on.
After retiring the Captain America role in 2019, his first non-MCU film was the 2019 mystery film Knives Out directed by Rian Johnson. He starred as antagonist Hugh “Ransom” Drysdale, alongside a star-studded cast of Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael Shannon among others.
2023: Patrick Dempsey
Maine-based American actor Patrick Dempsey made his debut in the big screen with the 1987 World War II era movie In the Mood, which was based on the real life of Ellsworth Wisecarver – a teenager controversially known for his romantic relationships with much older women.
This followed with roles in 1987 romcom Can’t Buy Me Love with Amanda Peterson, and the 1988 drama film Some Girls with Jennifer Connelly.
He rose to fame in the Shonda Rhimes-produced medical drama Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd, the Chief of Surgery in what was previously named as the Seattle Grace Hospital. His on-screen relationship with Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey was highly talked about, given the circumstances of its timeline.
In 2022, he was inducted as a Disney Legend during the D23 Expo for his contributions to film and TV. He joined the Class of 2022 alongside his co-star Pompeo, Frozen cast Kristen Stewart, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, and the late Chadwick Boseman.
2024: John Krasinski
Actor and director John Krasinski is mainly known for his role as Jim Halpert in the NBC sitcom The Office, which ran for 9 seasons between 2005 to 2013. In the series, he was credited with some episodes as a producer and/or director.
From 2018 to 2023, he played the titular character in the Amazon Prime Video series Jack Ryan where he stepped in as executive producer.
He gained even further recognition after writing and directing the post-apocalyptic horror film A Quiet Place, a movie where no dialogue was used – except American Sign Language (ASL). Krasinski starred in the film as the family’s patriarch alongside his wife and fellow actress Emily Blunt, whose character was heavily pregnant at the time of the movie’s setting.
He made an appearance in the MCU as Earth 838’s Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in the 2022 comic book film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen.
2025: Jonathan Bailey
For the feature’s 40th anniversary, People magazine named Jonathan Bailey as the Sexiest Man Alive in 2025.
The British actor had his breakthrough in the hit Netflix series Bridgerton, produced by Shondaland based on Julia Quinn’s original book series. In the series, he portrayed Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest son of Violet and Edmund Bridgerton – the latter who passed away in the show, causing Anthony to step up as the man of the household.
His relationship with Simone Ashley’s Kate Sharma was the primary focus of season 2, where the second book The Viscount Who Loved Me was based on.
In 2023, he starred alongside Matt Bomer in the historical romance miniseries Fellow Travelers, where he and Bomer portrayed male lovers Tim Laughlin and Hawk Fuller who met during the 1950s – at the peak of the McCarthyism era.
Currently, he’s known for his roles as Prince Fiyero Tigelaar in Wicked and its upcoming sequel, Wicked: For Good. Both movies were based on the 2003 Tony Award winning musical that was originally played by Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda the Good Witch, and Idina Menzel as the Wicked Witch of the West.
In June 2025, he made his debut in the Jurassic Park universe as Dr. Henry Loomis in Jurassic World Rebirth. The cast was led by Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Rupert Friend among others.
Bailey is considered to be the first openly gay man to be featured on the People magazine cover. – Juliana Chloe Gonzales/Rappler.com
Juliana Chloe Gonzales is a Rappler intern studying AB Communication Arts at De La Salle University.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rappler.com ’
