Paul Rudd named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive 2021

Popular American actor Paul Rudd has been named People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive 2021, on Wednesday.

The actor, who is best known for playing Ant-Man, has joined the likes of Idris Elba, George Clooney and Bradley Cooper. 

His magazine cover title was unveiled on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as part of an elaborate pre-recorded scene, in which Colbert acted as a ‘sexiness adjudicator’ before finally announcing Rudd's new title.

Rudd, 52, seemed taken aback at the honour, as was his wife. "I do have an awareness, enough to know that when people hear that I'd be picked for this, they would say, 'What?'" he told People in a cover story for the magazine.

"She was stupefied," he said of the reaction of Julie, his wife of 18 years. "After some giggling and shock, she said, 'Oh, they got it right.' And that was very sweet."

Rudd has been associated with films and TV work for a long time. He played the kind boyfriend Mike of Lisa Kudrow's iconic character Phoebe on the TV comedy Friends and later took larger roles in comedies like Knocked Up.

After landing a few acting gigs in the early ‘90s, he impressed audiences in his breakout role as Josh in the romantic-comedy Clueless before playing Ant-Man in the Marvel superhero movie Captain America: Civil War and later seeing his character get his own film.

Rudd, who has two children, will next appear in Ghostbusters: Afterlife and in the TV series The Shrink Next Door.

The special double issue of People magazine hits US newsstands on Friday. - Reuters