Cinematic Crush: Brad Pitt

Crush object: Brad Pitt, actor/producer.

- He began his career with roles on TV soap operas (Another World, Dallas) and bit parts in movies (Less Than Zero), but his big breakthrough was as J.D., the sexy hitchhiker who takes Geena Davis for a ride in Thelma & Louise.

- Alternating between quirky characters (Kalifornia, True Romance) and golden boys (A River Runs Through It, Legends of the Fall), this period was highlighted by his morose vamp Louis in Interview with a Vampire and his biggest hit to date, Seven.

- Another oddball character, Jeffrey Goines in Twelve Monkeys, netted him a Golden Globe and his first Academy Award nomination. Following a string of flops (The Devil's Own, Seven Years in Tibet, Meet Joe Black) was the cult classic Fight Club, wherein he played the enigmatic Tyler Durden, recently named by Empire magazine the greatest movie character of all time.

- His subsequent characters have included an Irish Gypsy boxer (Snatch), a smooth con man (the Ocean's Eleven movies), Sinbad the Sailor, Achilles (Troy), an assassin gunning for his own wife (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) and Jesse James. He is also a successful producer, including Running with Scissors, A Mighty Heart and the Oscar winning The Departed.

- This year, he has proven his range yet again, playing the himbo Chad in Burn After Reading (available on DVD and Blu-raynext Tuesday) and the title character in the eagerly awaited The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which just may land him another Oscar nod. And he's not slowing down; other upcoming films include Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and a film adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey.