International Males: Hot Around the Globe

Passports, please: Find out why James McAvoy, Romulo Pires and others get pulses racing in any language. By Caryn Midler and Brian Orloff

ROMULO PIRES

courtesy wilhelmina

Hometown: Brasilia, Brazil
Age: 24
Status: Single
Why He's a Star: Along with Gisele Bundchen, Pires is the reigning royalty of Brazilian modeling. This chiseled face has posed for Gucci and Valentino, and currently can be seen seducing Sienna Miller in the print campaign for Pepe Jeans.
What Makes Him Sexy: Apart from the obvious, he's good with his hands – his pre-runway resume includes a stint as a mechanic.

ZINéDINE ZIDANE

DANIEL GARCIA/AFP/Getty

Hometown: Marseille, France
Age: 34
Status: Married to dancer-model Véronique Zidane since 1993
Why He's a Star: Call him the French David Beckham. Well, actually, this footballer knows Becks quite well – they were Real Madrid teammates until Zizou (his nickname) retired in July. Even hotter: He's been FIFA World Player of the Year three times.
What Makes Him Sexy: He sticks up for himself. Sure, it was the headbutt felt 'round the world when Zidane nailed Italy's Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup Final, but his reasons were honorable: He was reacting to alleged insults about his mother and sister.

PETE MURRAY

Paul McConnell/Getty

Hometown: Queensland, Australia
Age: 36
Status: Married (He wed longtime sweetheart Amanda Coutts on Oct. 7)
Why He's a Star: Like John Mayer, Murray is a sensitive, guitar-toting troubadour – with record sales to match. His 2003 major label debut Feeler rocketed to No. 1 on the Aussie charts and went six-times platinum. His sold-out 2004 tour was so successful he had to add extra dates. Now the singer is up for two ARIA awards (Australia's Grammys) for his album See The Sun.
What Makes Him Sexy: He's secretly a man of action. Before going the folk-rock route, the father of one was a promising rugby player.

JAMES MCAVOY

Getty

Hometown: Glasgow, Scotland
Age: 27
Status: Engaged to actress Anne Marie Duff
Why He's a Star: He was a favorite at home, thanks to roles on UK television, but now (like fellow Scotsman Ewan McGregor) he's infiltrating Hollywood. U.S. fans can find those swoon-worthy eyes in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and in the drama The Last King of Scotland.
What Makes Him Sexy: He's adventurous – he scales mountains. "You feel like you're some medieval courier or adventurer on a mission," he told the England Observer" of his hobby. "You've got ultimate purpose, you've got to get to there."

ALEJANDRO FERNANDEZ

MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty

Hometown: Mexico City
Age: 35
Status: Divorced
Why He's a Star: The multi-platinum superstar is lovingly called "The Colt" by fans of his traditional music (think mariachi and ranchera), and he sold out Mexico's Auditorio Nacional 12 times in three weeks (that's about 10,000 tickets each night). He even has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
What Makes Him Sexy: He's a romantic. Still, his love life could play like a telenovella: Fernandez was caught in a scandal after being photographed with Mexican model Linda Alarcon while still involved with another model, Ximena Diaz – for whom he had left his wife. Ouch!

ROBBIE WILLIAMS

FAME

Hometown: Stoke-on-Trent, England
Age: 32
Status: Single – and loving it (His romantic exploits are a favorite subject in the British press)
Why He's a Star: The UK popster has sold more than 60 million solo albums worldwide, and even Elton John dubbed him "the No. 1 star in the world." But he got his start the good ol' American way – in a boy band. Britain's Take That racked up nine No. 1 UK hits (compare that to 'N Sync's one No. 1 single in the U.S.).
What Makes Him Sexy: He's unpredictable. He stripped down for an ad campaign for his album Intensive Care, and he's known for plucking women from his audience to engage in onstage some lip-locking.

HRITHIK ROSHAN

Raj Ghai/Getty

Hometown: Mumbai, India
Age: 32
Status: Married to high-school sweetheart Suzanne Khan since 2000
Why He's a Star: Bollywood! Cinema runs in the former child actor's blood: Director dad Rakesh helmed his son's first major grown-up success, 2000's Kaho Naa ... Pyaar Hai (Say This Is Love), which cleaned up at the box office – and spawned countrywide hysteria (dubbed "Hrithikmania"!).
What Makes Him Sexy: He's courageous. Roshan overcame a diagnosis of scoliosis (and doctors who told him he would never be able to dance) to become one of Bollywood's most acclaimed dancers.

TAKUYA KIMURA

KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty

Hometown: Tokyo
Age: 33
Status: Married to fellow pop star Shizuka Kudo since 2000
Why He's a Star: He could be the Japanese Mark Wahlberg. Kimura, a father of two, got his start in his country's most popular boy band, SMAP, then exploded onscreen in teen TV dramas and films. Stateside, he popped up in Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's art house favorite 2046 as a romantic lead.
What Makes Him Sexy: He can laugh at himself. He poked fun at his heartthrob image in a series of Japanese credit-card commercials that riffed on his reputation as a dedicated boyfriend.

JAMIE DORNAN

Evan Agostini/Getty

Hometown: Belfast, Ireland
Age: 24
Status: Single
Why He's a Star: Dornan, a former model who posed in worldwide campaigns for Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, has been linked to megawatt British babes Kate Moss, Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley (whom he dated for two years). Now he's transforming himself into a Hollywood leading man, making his film debut opposite Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette.
What Makes Him Sexy: He's available. "I really need a girlfriend," he recently told Out magazine.