Noah Wyle named People magazine’s ‘sexiest man alive’: ‘Not in a million years’

October 28, 2026 — 8:14am

Noah Wyle, star of the hit HBO Max medical drama The Pitt, has been crowned People magazine’s 2026 “sexiest man alive”. 

The magazine noted that it had featured Wyle in its 1996 “Sexy Men of ER” edition during his time on The Pitt’s predecessor medical drama, but that was alongside costars George Clooney, Eriq La Salle and Anthony Edwards.

Wyle played Dr John Carter in ER, from its debut in 1994 until 2006. His co-star Clooney, the outlet noted, had gone on to claim the “sexiest man” crown twice – in 1997 and 2006 – but somehow the magazine had let Wyle “get away”.

The 55-year-old said it “sounded like a prank” when he heard the news, adding: “Not in a million years did I think that this would be an honour bestowed on me.”

“I hope this changes everything. I hope it’s just wine and roses, milk and honey from here on out,” he told the outlet. “No, I don’t, but I am going to take a lot of ribbing from friends and family for sure.”

Asked what he thought his friend Clooney would make of his honour, Wyle told People: “I think he’ll be amused and feel, hopefully, like a proud papa, that I’ve come of gray-haired age.”

His family had mixed feelings, however. Wyle revealed his wife Sara was positive about the news because she thinks he is “a good guy and that the kind of person that I am and the kind of father I am, the kind of husband I am, is worth promoting”.

More specifically he noted, she was “very pleased that this reflects well on her taste”.

Wyle’s three children – Owen, 24, Auden, 21, and 11-year-old daughter Frances – had different views of the matter, he said.

His son noted it would “make my life so much harder now” because of the haters, while his older daughter Auden was “was just like, ‘No way, no way’.”

Wyle has won two Emmys for best actor in drama for his portrayal of Dr Michael “Robby” Robinavitch in The Pitt, which covers one long shift at a Pittsburgh trauma centre over a season’s worth of episodes. Earlier this year he told this masthead the strength of the drama was in the manner it flipped the perspective, looking at the patient’s injuries from a doctor’s perspective, an almost documentary-style device.

Other medical dramas, such as ER, tended to focus on the doctors looking down at their patients.

“The biggest difference, stylistically, is everything,” Wyle told this masthead’s culture editor at large Michael Idato earlier this year. “There are no lights on our set, there are no C-stands [the grip stands used to support lights, reflectors, backdrops and other equipment], there are no camera tracks, none of the traditional filmmaking tools.”

Wyle follows last year’s winner, Wicked star Jonathan Bailey, 2024 winner John Krasinski and 2023 titleholder Patrick Dempsey, who also came to fame playing a doctor, on the drama ER.

The “sexiest man alive” title dates from a 1985 People interview with Mel Gibson, with the phrase used for a cover line pointing to the piece, and has since become an annual mainstay for the magazine.

With Reuters

Chris Hook is Culture News Editor Sydney for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

From our partners