salon's sexiest man living 2007

Who: Tony Leung
Age: 45
Know him as: Actor

Martin Scorcese's Oscar-winning "The Departed," a remake/rip-off of the nail-biting 2002 Hong Kong thriller "Infernal Affairs," turned off fans of the original for one unavoidable reason -- and it wasn't Jack Nicholson's scenery-chewing. It was the absence of the smoldering Tony Leung in the role of the undercover cop lost in a convoluted game of spy vs. spy. As good as Leo DiCaprio's Boston honk and flinty rage are in the remake, he just can't hold a candle to Leung.

But then, of course he can't. Leung is a professional smolderer; the guy's a virtual human Duraflame. Throughout the past two decades, in "Hard-Boiled" (1992), "Chungking Express" (1994), "Happy Together" (1997), "In the Mood for Love" (2000), "Hero" (2002) and "2046" (2004), he's left only glowing embers in his wake. In this year's "Lust, Caution," he added a sadistic streak we'd never seen from him before that caused us to recoil -- and still come back for more.

How, exactly, does he do it? We think it's the way he will occasionally hold our gaze -- a beat or two too long, with such haunted, hungry eyes we feel slightly bruised afterward, like we've had an actual physical interaction. We sure don't get that from Tom Cruise's maniacal, trademarked grin.

Observers are fond of referring to Leung as "Asia's answer to Clark Gable." But in film's new world order, Leung ranks as a much bigger global star than most of the pretty boys in Hollywood's (or People's) stable these days. And the fact that his roles are being recast for more middling American tastes doesn't just make him the poorer for it -- we're the poorer for it, too.