Contrary to popular belief, we queers aren't attracted just to gym bods and pretty faces. We're looking for it all -- intelligence, charm, heart, style, talent, accessibility and that unexplainable sumthin' sumthin' called the X-factor that makes our hearts jump.
From the worlds of entertainment, art, sports, business, politics and other realms, we've plucked the very few people who fit these criteria, and we present them to you in our weekly series "The Full Package."
Born in Glasgow but bred in Aurora, Ill., the multitalented and undeniably gorgeous John Barrowman brings us the best a UK lad has to offer, yet maintains a charisma that's 100 percent USDA hunk. He's got Yankee boldness coupled with Scottish charm. He has the all-American pearly whites as well as the dreamy Celtic baby blues. He looks as studly striding around in the rakish military coat he dons for his role on the sci-fi sensation "Torchwood" as he does showing off bulging calves in a kilt or playfully showing off his bare, broad-shouldered corn-fed physique for the cameras.
Indeed, Barrowman proves his magnetism while navigating effortlessly through different worlds and taking on different roles, whether it be as a singer, dancer, actor, author, activist or the out-and-proud family man who has a soft spot for children, aging animals and Scott, his equally hunky partner of 15 years.
When it comes to performing talent, John is by far more a thoroughbred than a one-trick pony, whether he's playing a crooner in the Cole Porter biopic "De-Lovely," camping it up as a bleached-blond Nazi in the Mel Brooks screen version of "The Producers" or making "Woodies" (the equivalent of the "Star Trek"-obsessed "Trekkies") out of "Torchwood" viewers through his role as the eternally youthful Capt. Jack Harkness in the popular BBC sci-fi series. Add to these accomplishments the title of author for his wildly entertaining autobiography "Anything Goes" and stage credits in shows such as "Miss Saigon," "Grease," "Hair," "Sunset Boulevard," Chicago" and "the Phantom of the Opera" and you've got not just a pretty face but a superior talent.
He's got the boyishly tousled hair and the perfect teeth, the ripped abs and tight calves, the broad shoulders and long eyelashes. You could say he's a cross between Tom Cruise (without the crazy energy) and a younger, prettier Mr. Big from "Sex and the City" (without the smugness). But what makes him completely irresistible is that he has the manly-man physique of someone who stays fit but who isn't afraid of enjoying his apple pie and his bread pudding.
As a youngster, one of his favorite movies was "The Outsiders," which seems fitting for someone who for much of his life he seems to have lived on the fringes, in one way or the other. As a 9-year-old who moved from Scotland to the United States, he was taunted by classmates because of the way he talked, so he trained himself to speak with an American accent.
He's managed to accomplish what few other actors have been able to -- be out and proud and still take on roles in which audiences believe he can get the girl. He entered into a civil partnership with his longtime love, the successful architect Scott Gill, in 2006.
Ironically, John is apparently so butch that he lost the "Will & Grace" role to hetero actor Eric McCormick because the producers of the show didn't think John was nelly enough.
As hunky, talented and successful as John is, he's not one to sit back and rest on his laurels. Instead he takes time out of his grueling schedule to devote energy to causes he believes in, whether it be UK organizations such as Dog Trust (www.dogstrust.org.uk), through which he adopted a 12-year-old cocker spaniel to inspire others that puppies aren't the only canines who need good homes; Stonewall (www.stonewall.org.uk), which advocates for LGBT rights; Crusaid (www.crusaid.org.uk), which works for impoverished people living with HIV/AIDS, and Theatre Cares (www.theatrecares.org.uk), which uses the London stage to bring awareness and funding to HIV issues.
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