Daniel Sharman
Age: 26
Summer Series/Character: MTV's "Teen Wolf," as an outsider and abused child, who desperately craved a drastic change and voluntarily became a werewolf.
Why He's Hot: Sharman's got that brooding thing down—and it's all in the eyes. He has a way of looking at people that makes them uneasy. You don't know if he's friend or foe. Within, he struggles with opposing desires to both seek revenge and be the hero he doesn't believe he can be. He does a great job of playing the misunderstood antihero who always keeps you guessing. He's the bad boy you want to save. And to think, he's not even using his British accent.
What's Next: The indie horror thriller The Collection.
Age: 26
Summer Series/Character: ABC Family's "Baby Daddy," as a hockey-playing big bro who has a major crush on his childhood bff.
Why He's Hot: Besides the fact that he is a giant hunk of a man who could easily go head-to-head with Thor (the actor who plays him, not the actual superhero), Theler has an adorable naive smile, great comic timing in the vein of Joey Lawrence circa "Blossom" meets Matt LeBlanc circa "Friends," and his character has the sweetest crush on his formerly-fat bff—and it started when she was fat. Major extra points.
What's Next: Next season of "Baby Daddy," when he'll have to compete against his own bro for Riley's heart, since she's finally noticed what a catch he is and Ben is finally noticing her.
Age: 20
Summer Series/Character: ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars," as Ezra's little brother who reenters his life with a seemingly innocent agenda
Why He's Hot: I've actually seen Sulkin before as Selena Gomez's werewolf boyfriend on Disney's "Wizards of Waverly Place," where he got to use his natural British accent. Then I saw him again this summer on ABC Family's "Melissa & Joey" doing a brief romantic arc, and I've gotta say he's exponentially hotter with the accent—as most Brits are. (You know the moment you heard Robert Pattinson's natural accent, you were like Jacob, who?) When he popped up on "Pretty Little Liars," playing the third in the Ezra-Aria-Wesley love triangle, I was less impressed. As it turns out, creepy is not a good look on him. But he makes the list for his perfect hair and piercing deep looks. Honestly, Aria could be stalked by worse.
What's Next: The indie drama Affluenza that was inspired by The Great Gatsby.
Age: 28
Summer Series/Character: HBO's "The Newsroom," as a senior producer on a newly formatted news series and a lovesick good-guy
Why He's Hot: By now you've probably heard the billion comparisons to Jesse Eisenberg, in both appearance and cadence. After all, his character Jim is an intelligent, academically-confident, socially-inept doormat, and he's speaking Aaron Sorkin's words. It was bound to happen. But I credit Mr. Gallagher's hotness not to his intellect or his endearing dorkiness, but to his ability to make the archetype of the "criminally neglected boy-next-door, who repeatedly endures his dream girl's rejections" finally tolerable. I love (500) Days of Summer for its creative editing and direction. I hated, however, watching a perfectly nice guy basically get his heart ripped out in slow motion by a girl, might I add, that totally didn't deserve the adoration. It happens so many times in movies that I often leave the theater wanting to kick that girl's ass, because it's girls like that that ruin the good guys for the rest of us. While most of the credit goes to Mr. Sorkin for creating a female character worthy of such adoration, a lot of it also goes to Gallagher for making us believe that he's not just infatuated by some manifestation he's created, but in love with his soul mate. He makes you root for him harder than you ever have for a fictional character. You have friends you don't support this much. Oh and did I mention he won a Tony for Spring Awakening? I mean, overachieving much?
What's Next: Next season of "The Newsroom," when we will see if he can still work alongside Maggie after she gave him false hope and emotionally gutted him once again.
Age: 20
Summer Movie/Character: NICK's made-for-TV movie Rags, as an orphan and aspiring singer
Why He's Hot: He looks like a cross between James Dean and Nick Jonas. Swoon! And it doesn't hurt that his singing voice, a melodic mix of R&B and pop, is really good for an unsigned artist. Talent is always sexy.
What's Next: He's actually in the NICK series "How to Rock," but he just wrapped the supernatural love story The Last Keeper.
Age: 39
Summer Series/Character: USA's "Common Law," as a rebellious cop and ladies man
Why He's Hot: Those gorgeous eyes, that charismatic smile, his overconfident swagger—I could go on. Ealy's been in the business for more than a decade now. While his career picked up in '02 when he debuted in the black cinema classic Barbershop, and it appeared he was finally getting his shot in the short-lived Showtime crime drama "Sleeper Cell" three years later, it wasn't until the even more short-lived ABC conspiracy series "FlashForward" that people started to take notice. Before you know it he was co-starring in the dramatic adaptation of For Colored Girls, guest-starring as an enterprising lawyer in CBS's "The Good Wife," and starring in the hit rom-com adaptation of Steve Harvey's Think Like a Man. His new USA series is just another stepping stone in the right direction.
What's Next: The dramatic indie Unconditional with Lynn Collins (John Carter), and the rom-com drama About Last Night with Regina Hall (Think Like a Man), Joy Bryant ("Parenthood"), and comedian Kevin Hart.
Nathan Parsons
Age: 24
Summer Series/Character: ABC Family's "Bunheads," as a part-time bartender, full-time nomad and zen surfer
Why He's Hot: Come on? Seriously? He could've been a silent movie actor cause I could care less what he's saying. Normally surfer-speak sounds like a bunch of lazy mantras laced together by weed, but while staring at this dude you would glady consume the crap his character spews and eagerly ask for a second serving if only to retain his shirtless attention for a few more seconds.
What's Next: Hopefully, he'll be back next season in spite of his seemingly final bon-voyage-sex with Michelle.
Age: 29
Summer Series/Character: ABC's "Rookie Blue," as an ex-soldier-turned-cop, who returns to rekindle his childhood romance with the Ice Queen Gail.
Why He's Hot: In the first episode we're introduced to his character Nick, he dives into a river to apprehend a kidnapper. Some would call that irresponsible, but given that he had the balls to, I like to think of it as badass. Nick may respect authority more than most of his fellow rookies, but when he breaks the rules, it isn't because of pride or rebelliousness, but because of honor and duty, making him a whole different kind of bad boy. The one you can rely on.
What's Next: Next season of "Rookie Blue," where I'm sure things will get romantically complicated as Nick starts to get closer to Andy.
Richard Ayoade
Age: 35
Summer Movie/Character: The Watch, the sex-obsessed voice-of-reason amongst a band of alien-hunting suburbanites.
Why He's Hot: Surprisingly, not because of his accent. It's more his comedic delivery. His tone is apologetic, innocent, and timid. He sounds like he could voice a cautious mouse. It's adorable. And it makes everything he says adorable...even when what he says is incredibly raunchy and inappropriate. Think Jemaine Clement ("Flight of the Conchords") meets Stephen Mangan ("Episodes"), not Russell Brand meets Ricky Gervais.
What's Next: Nothing as of yet, but you could always rent all four seasons of "The IT Crowd" to hold you over.
Derek Theler tops the list for me!
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