AARP’s Movies for Grownups Hottest Actors Over 50

One of the hottest leading men of all time, Cary Grant, once said, “Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.”

We concur. On-screen and off, the man oozed charm, razor-sharp wit, truckloads of talent and physical perfection — no one cut a more effortlessly elegant figure in a tux.

Best of all, like vintage Scotch, the guy grew finer with age, wooing leading ladies Grace Kelly and Sophia Loren well into his salt-and-pepper-haired 50s and beyond.

We have actors like that today, too — the kind who defy the ravages of time and consistently capture our imaginations, in stories we grownups love to be swept away in.

It’s time they got some well-deserved kudos for that, don’t you think?

After much demand, AARP’s Movies for Grownups has compiled an inaugural, essential list we expect will prove legendary in its own time: the Hottest Actors Over 50. (You can thank George Clooney, Grant’s heir apparent, who badgered us for years to perform this task.)

It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.

Each of these 25 men in their 50s, 60s and 70s excel at their craft. Among them, they’ve amassed 215 Oscar, Golden Globe, and Emmy nominations and 35 wins. They also exude the kind of magnetism, vibrancy, heart and soul that amounts to that rare, intangible superpower: star quality.

Admittedly, they’re not hard on the eyes or lacking in sex appeal. As Seinfeld’s Kramer would say, our Hottest Actors are blessed with “the kavorka.” Their allure is enriched with a depth earned over the years.

Pierce Brosnan, 72 — the eldest on our list — heralded in a “more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete” James Bond in the mid-’90s, according to Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert. This year, British GQ called Brosnan, now a grandfather of four, “still the definitive 007 — effortlessly stylish, endlessly charismatic, and armed with the perfect smoulder.”

The youngest to make our list, Chilean-born Pedro Pascal, 50, was recently dubbed a “revolutionary sex symbol” who is “trailblazing a new kind of hotness,” by one pop culture writer. Olé to that. 

Colman Domingo, 55, who nabbed two consecutive best actor nominations for Academy Awards in 2024 and 2025 (for his portrayals of real-life gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in Rustin and prisoner John “Divine G” Whitfield in Sing Sing) was described by his Four Seasons costar Steve Carell, like this: “There’s an aura to him.... It drips off of him — his greatness, talent, and charisma.”

Scrolling through our coterie, you’ll also find — no way! — the bodacious Keanu Reeves, who turned the Big 6-0 last year. Keanu over 50? Excellent!

Part of the charm of these guys, of course, is that they’re loath to admit their fabulousness. In a scene from the new CBS drama Watson, a beautiful stranger in a hospital corridor asks Morris Chestnut’s Dr. John Watson, “You do realize that you’re hot, right?” It’s a rhetorical question.

Though our guys may be too humble to own up to it, they have no problem teasing their dashing colleagues. At the L.A. premiere for Wolfs last year, Brad Pitt ribbed longtime pal and costar Clooney about his enduring swoonworthiness.

Apologies to Grant, but “this,” Pitt said of Clooney, “is the sexiest man still alive.”