Noah Wyle, the ER alum who is now an award-winning star of The Pitt, has been crownedPeople’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2026.
Wyle, 55, takes the title from last year’s winner, Wicked star Jonathan Bailey. In an interview with People, which announced the honor Tuesday, the Emmy winner said he was incredulous when he got the news. “I thought that sounded like a prank,” he said, adding that he never expected to be given such an honor.
Wyle said his wife, Sara Wells, helped convince him because she thinks he is “worth promoting” as a husband and father. “She was very pleased that this reflects well on her taste,” he added.
Wyle’s profile has soared since The Pitt premiered in 2025. The HBO Max medical drama follows a single shift in a Pittsburgh emergency room each season, and Wyle serves as lead actor, an executive producer and a writer on the series. Wyle has called the run a “second lightning strike” of his life.
In September, he won his second straight Emmy for lead actor in a drama series for his role as Dr. Robby in The Pitt, becoming the fifth actor to win the award for a show’s first two seasons and the first since Bryan Cranston in 2009 for Breaking Bad, according toVariety.
At 55, Wyle is among the oldest men to win the title. Sean Connery remains the oldest winner, at 59 when he was named in 1989. Patrick Dempsey was 57 when he won in 2023, and Harrison Ford was 56 when he won in 1998. The youngest winner was John F. Kennedy Jr., who was 27 when he won in 1988.
Wyle’s ER costar George Clooney, a two-time Sexiest Man Alive winner, joked in January that AARP’s magazine should do a “Sexiest Man Still Alive” feature once a year and said he would nominate Wyle first, People reported. In June, AARP’s Movies for Grownups named Wyle No. 1 on its first “25 Hottest Gen X Actors” list.
This year’s announcement bucked the trend of late-night reveals, such as Patrick Dempsey’s on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2023 and Bailey’s on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last year. People announced Wyle on Tuesday morning through its own app.
Prediction markets saw it coming. Kalshi and Polymarket both gave Wyle a 79% chance of winning before the announcement, and OLBG had him as the 1-3 favorite, an implied 75% chance, ahead of Bad Bunny, the next favorite at 6-4.
Reaction online to the pick has been mixed. On People’s story, one commenter wrote: “Love this guy since ER. I am getting tired of beards on lots of men over 50, but looks good on him. Congrats.” Another said: “He is a nice looking man, talented and has family values. He is the whole package!” On Instagram, some were less convinced. “Noah is sexy. Sexiest? Maybe not. Don’t worry ya’ll, the younger guys will get their chance!” one commenter wrote, while another asked: “Was Bad Bunny unavailable?”
Who has previously won?
People has been naming a Sexiest Man Alive since 1985, when Mel Gibson was crowned the first winner.
Recent winners include Jonathan Bailey (2025), John Krasinski (2024), Patrick Dempsey (2023), Chris Evans (2022), Paul Rudd (2021), Michael B. Jordan (2020), John Legend (2019) and Idris Elba (2018).
Three men have won the solo title twice: Brad Pitt (1995 and 2000), George Clooney (1997 and 2006) and Johnny Depp (2003 and 2009). While Wyle is a first-time winner, he and Clooney also appeared together on a People “Sexy Men of ER” cover in the ’90s.
Bailey, last year’s winner, was the first openly gay man to be named Sexiest Man Alive.
How is the winner decided?
There is no public vote for the accolade. Instead, a small group of People editors makes the final decision. People’s staff have previously said the choice reflects the cultural moment. Julie Jordan, a staffer at People, told USA Today in 2012 that the team pays attention to reader comments and asks female celebrities for their picks. The magazine has also used focus groups to help select its winner.
The pick is closely guarded. Only about 10 staffers knew who it was until close to publication, then-editor-in-chief Dan Wakeford told CNN in 2019, and the story was kept on a “secret server.”
“We start thinking about who could be next year’s ‘Sexiest Man’ the day after the last one publishes,” Wakeford said.
