People Has Spoken: Depp is Sexiest Man Alive

Actor who steers clear of Hollywood, picks eclectic roles wins for second time

He's played a bank robber, a chocolate magnate, a guy with scissors for hands and a pirate in the movies, but the real-life Johnny Depp has just reprised another role: People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive.

Depp, the reclusive 46-year-old family man who splits his time between the South of France and his private island in the Bahamas, won the title for the second time, edging out such hunks as Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bradley Cooper, Robert Downey Jr., David Beckham, Nick Cannon, John Legend and Robert Pattinson.

The Kentucky-born Depp also became the third two-time winner, joining fellow 40-something actors George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

Depp played Chicago gangster John Dillinger in "Public Enemies" earlier this year. While his role in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies have brought him the most fame and money, Depp has always sought eclectic roles, often teaming with director Tim Burton to play bizarrely fantastical characters. Their latest collaboration, "Alice in Wonderland Wonderland," is due out next year.

"There’s no real definition other than there is some kind of connection, some sort of understanding that Tim and I have that is at most times unspoken," Depp said recently.  "Most people when they hear Tim give me direction or we’re talking about the character or something on the set, people are baffled. Completely befuddled and they don’t know what we’re talking about."

Depp's out-the-box approach to picking roles fits with his lifestyle as a Hollywood outsider. Even though he commands upwards of $20 million per movie, Depp sightings are rare in Tinseltown.

"The five years that I’ve been living in France and in the States to some degree a little bit, because I’m not a resident of France, has done wonders for my relationship with Hollywood," Depp told Stars on Top.  And also having kids, I’m so removed from it that I don’t know anything. I mean, I don't know who anybody is. I don't know who’s famous. I don't know who’s not famous. I don't know who’s rich, who’s poor, who’s successful, who’s a drag. I don't know anybody. I don't know what made money and what didn’t make money. And it’s great. So, I come in just completely ignorant of all of it and it feels really good."

Get more: People

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