Cinematic Crush: David Duchovny

Crush object: David Duchovny, actor/writer/director.

- He first gained attention as a transvestite DEA agent in the cult TV classic Twin Peaks, but was soon world famous as an FBI agent in another cult TV classic, The X-Files. His portrayal of Fox "Spooky" Mulder earned him two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe. He has also played Mulder in episodes of The Simpsons and The Lone Gunmen and the feature film The X-Files: Fight the Future.

- Other television roles include a man-crushing version of himself on The Larry Sanders Show, the host of the soft core Red Shoe Diaries, and star of the current Showtime series Californication, which nabbed him his second Golden Globe earlier this year. Guest appearances include Millennium, Life with Bonnie and Sex and the City.

- Branching out from acting, he wrote and/or directed eight episodes of The X-Files and the feature film House of D.

- More movie roles include Kalifornia, Playing God, Return to Me, Evolution, Zoolander, Full Frontal, Connie and Carla and Things We Lost in the Fire.

- He returns as Agent Mulder once more in this week's big screen sequel The X-Files: I Want to Believe, opening Friday.

Cinematic Crush: Aaron Eckhart

Crush object: Aaron Eckhart, actor.

- He made an impressive debut (and won an Independent Spirit Award) as the misogynistic narcissist at the center of In the Company of Men.

- Memorable supporting turns in Your Friends & Neighbors, Any Given Sunday, Erin Brockovich, Nurse Betty, The Missing and Paycheck followed.

- His pitch perfect performance in the satirical Thank You for Smoking netted him Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations.

- His matinee idol good looks served him well in the noirish The Black Dahlia and the romantic comedy No Reservations.

- The indie favorite will next be seen as Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent -- a.k.a. the man who will be Two-Face -- in this week's big studio blockbuster The Dark Knight, but returns to his roots later this year with Alan Ball's already controversial Towelhead (formerly Nothing is Private).

Cinematic Crush: Warren Beatty

Crush object: Warren Beatty, actor/director/writer/ producer.

- The future auteur started his career on television, most notably as rich kid Milton Armitage on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. After leaving that series, he earned a Tony Award nomination for the Broadway play A Loss of Roses.

- He made his film debut in the classic romantic melodrama Splendor in the Grass, which won him a Golden Globe as "Most Promising Newcomer". He would go on to win three more Globes, including their lifetime achievement honor, the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

- Following the legendary Bonnie and Clyde, the 70's proved to be his decade, with such future classics as McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Shampoo and Heaven Can Wait, his first success as a multi-hyphenate. As star, co-director, co-writer and co-producer, he became one of the few people to be nominated for four Academy Awards for the same film.

- He would repeat that feat with his epic triumph, Reds, which netted him his own Oscar, as Best Director (in all, he has been nominated for an Oscar fourteen times, and also received the Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Award). From that high to the low of Ishtar, he went on to Dick Tracy, Bugsy and Bulworth.

- The American Film Institute honored him this year with their lifetime achievement award. The USA Network will broadcast the festivities tomorrow night at 9:00 PM EST.

Cinematic Crush: Brendan Fraser

Crush object: Brendan Fraser, actor.

- His tendency to ping-pong back and forth between light-hearted comedy and serious dramatic roles began early in his career with his first two breakout roles in Encino Man and School Ties.

- Continuing that trend, he has given impressive performances in With Honors, The Twilight of the Golds, Gods and Monsters, The Quiet American and Crash, while also starring in such goofy fare as Airheads, Blast from the Past and Bedazzled.

- Speaking of goofy, he has played two cartoon characters come to life in George of the Jungle and Dudley Do-Right, and played straight man to a host of others in Monkeybone and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

- Branching out into action roles, he headlined the hit update of The Mummy and its sequel, The Mummy Returns.

- He'll be seen in theaters with two special effects-laden fantasy adventures this summer, Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (opening July 11 and August 1, respectively). Next up: suiting up as Gung Ho in GI Joe: Rise of Cobra.

Cinematic Crush: Taye Diggs

Crush object: Taye Diggs, actor.

- He found instant fame as a member of the legendary original cast of the landmark rock musical Rent, wherein he played Benny. His life was changed with the show in another way, as he met his future wife, Idina Menzel; the two would later co-star in The Wild Party and Wicked. His other stage roles include Carousel, Chicago and A Soldier's Play.

- After a stint on the soap The Guiding Light, he made his film debut as the answer to How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

- More movies followed with Go, The Wood, The Best Man, House on Haunted Hill, Brown Sugar and the film versions of Chicago and Rent.

- Guest stints on Ally McBeal and The West Wing led to his own series, Kevin Hill, which won him an NAACP Image Award, but only lasted one season. He appeared as a love interest for Will in the final season of Will and Grace and starred in another short-lived series, Day Break.

- He currently stars on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice, which returns for a second year this fall.

Cinematic Crush: Stephen Boyd

Crush object: Stephen Boyd, actor.

- Early films such as The Man Who Never Was, Island in the Sun, The Bravados and The Best of Everything led to his breakthrough role as Messala in Ben-Hur. Viewers of The Celluloid Closet will recall that he was instructed to play his role as the former lover of the title character, played by a clueless Charlton Heston. For his performance, he won the Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actor.

- Following Ben-Hur, he also starred in such historical/Biblical epics as The Fall of the Roman Empire, The Bible and Genghis Khan.

- Outside of the sword and sandals, he appeared in the musical Billy Rose's Jumbo, the sci fi classic Fantastic Voyage and the gangster thriller The Squeeze.

- Roles that almost were his: Marc Antony in Cleopatra opposite Elizabeth Taylor, and James Bond in Dr. No.

- His most notorious role was as the vain, ladder-climbing actor Frankie Fane in the infamous "bad movie we love" The Oscar. The all-star camp classic, not available on DVD, will air tonight on Turner Classic Movies.

Cinematic Crush: Patrick Stewart

Crush object: Patrick Stewart, actor.

- He beamed into stardom as the down-to-earth starship captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, "making it so" for seven seasons on television and four theatrical features. Unjustly, he was never nominated for an Emmy for his performance, but he was named "Sexiest Man on Television" by TV Guide in 1992.

- He also led another team of fanboy favorites to the big screen as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men trilogy.

- Other film roles include the flamboyant Sterling in Jeffrey, plus roles in Excalibur, Dune, L.A. Story, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Conspiracy Theory, plus voices for such animated productions as The Prince of Egypt, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Chicken Little, among many others.

- Also on television, he made memorable guest appearances on The Simpsons, Frasier, American Dad! and Extras, and starred in such TV movies as I, Claudius; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Moby Dick; Mysterious Island and The Lion in Winter.

- But his first love is the theater, as evidenced by his Tony Award nominated Macbeth this past season. Other notable stage performances include his award-winning one-man version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol (he played just Scrooge in a 1999 TV movie adaptation) and such other Shakespearean works as A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra and Twelfth Night.

Cinematic Crush: Jason Lewis

Crush object: Jason Lewis, actor/model.

- He is best known as the object of Samantha Jones' affection/lust, Absolut Hunk model Smith Jerrod on Sex and the City; he returns to the role this week when the Sex movie hits the big screen Friday.

- Soon after graduating college, his modeling career started in Paris and Milan for some of the biggest names in fashion, including Guess?, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss.

- A guest shot on Beverly Hills, 90210 led to his Sex stint, which was followed by recurring roles on Charmed and Brothers and Sisters, wherein he played Kevin's closeted soap star boyfriend Chad Barry.

- Other film roles include Next Stop Wonderland, The Jacket, My Bollywood Bride and Mr. Brooks.

- Fans are rallying around him to play superhero Captain America in the upcoming movie adaptation of the long-running comic book.

Cinematic Crush: Harrison Ford

Crush object: Harrison Ford, actor.

- From Han Solo to Indiana Jones to Rick Deckard to Jack Ryan to Richard Kimble, he is the consummate action movie star, starring in most of the biggest blockbusters in film history.

- A string of uncredited bit parts and television roles led to his first big break as Bob Falfa in George Lucas' American Graffiti, which of course led to Han Solo in the classic, original Star Wars trilogy.

- He was cast as Indiana Jones in Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark after Tom Selleck infamously turned it down; two more adventures (Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade) down, one more to go with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, opening this week.

- After another sci fi classic, Blade Runner, an Academy Award nomination for the crime drama Witness led to more non-genre films, including The Mosquito Coast, Working Girl, Presumed Innocent and Regarding Henry; he made a return to his action hero roots as Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, as well as The Fugitive and Air Force One.

- He has received lifetime achievement awards from the American Film Institute, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror, and was named "Box Office Star of the Century" by ShoWest.

Cinematic Crush: Shia LaBeouf

Crush object: Shia LaBeouf, actor.

- He first gained fame as a young actor on television, winning a Daytime Emmy Award for his role in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens.

- His breakout role in the movie Holes led to supporting turns in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle; I, Robot; Constantine; A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Bobby, in which he had his first nude scene.

- An impressive lead performance in the golf period drama The Greatest Game Ever Played caught the attention of mega-producer Steven Spielberg, who cast him in the blockbuster hit of 2007, Transformers, which (along with Disturbia and Surf's Up) earned the actor a BAFTA Rising Star Award for his work last year.

- This year isn't shaping up to badly either, with his role as Mutt Williams (new sidekick and possible son to a certain Dr. Jones) in the eagerly awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (in theaters May 22). Next up: the thriller Eagle Eye, the romantic anthology New York, I Love You and more transformin' with Transformers 2, due next year.

Cinematic Crush: Emile Hirsch

Crush object: Emile Hirsch, actor.

- OK, with Speed Racer opening this weekend, you knew this one was coming.

- The 23-year old California native got his start on television with guest spots on such shows as Early Edition, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, NYPD Blue and ER.

- His big screen debut was The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, followed by impressive turns in The Emperor's Club, The Mudge Boy, The Girl Next Door, Lords of Dogtown and Alpha Dog.

- The role that put him on the map though was as the tragic Chris McCandless in last year's Into the Wild; he won the National Board of Review's award for Breakthrough Performance, and was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild, Online Film Critics and Broadcast Film Critics awards for his heart-breaking performance.

- After Speed Racer, he'll shift gears to portray Cleve Jones, the gay rights activist (and future creator of the AIDS quilt) in this fall's eagerly awaited Harvey Milk biopic, Milk.

Cinematic Crush: Robert Downey Jr.

Crush object: Robert Downey Jr., actor.

- A one season stint on Saturday Night Live and small parts in Weird Science and Back to School led to leading roles in The Pick-Up Artist and his breakthrough movie, Less Then Zero, wherein he played a drug addicted rich kid.

- More dramatic and comedic performances followed with True Believer, Chances Are, Air America and Soapdish, but he was able to combine both genres with his Academy Award nominated performance as Charlie Chaplin.

- Alternating between strong lead roles and memorable supporting turns, he has since starred in such films as Short Cuts; Natural Born Killers; Richard III; Home for the Holidays; Restoration; Wonder Boys; Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; Good Night, and Good Luck; A Scanner Darkly and Zodiac.

- He won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination for his career-revitalizing role on Ally McBeal.

- Already this year he co-starred in Charlie Bartlett, and will star in two of the most anticipated movies of the summer: the superhero adventure Iron Man and the action comedy Tropic Thunder.

Cinematic Crush: Ewan McGregor

Crush object: Ewan McGregor, actor.

- Following the sleeper hit Shallow Grave, he really broke out with his leading role as Renton in the indie classic Trainspotting; supporting turns in Emma and Little Voice added to his fame.

- He became known for his fearless -- and often full frontal -- performances in The Pillow Book, Velvet Goldmine and Young Adam.

- Blockbuster stardom came when he was cast as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels and the musical hit Moulin Rouge!, resulting in a Golden Globe nomination for the latter.

- Other notable films he has starred in include Black Hawk Down, Down With Love, Big Fish, The Island, Miss Potter, Cassandra's Dream and the animated features Robots and Valiant.

- He stars opposite Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams in this week's sex thriller Deception and is slated to appear as the object of Jim Carrey's affection in next year's I Love You Phillip Morris.

Cinematic Crush: Jason Statham

Crush object: Jason Statham, actor.

- The burly British bruiser made his film debut in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; he later teamed up with Ritchie again for Snatch and Revolver.

- More supporting roles followed for the former Olympic diver/fashion model/black marketer with Ghosts of Mars, The One, The Italian Job (playing "Handsome Rob" ... and how), Collateral and Cellular.

- Action stardom came with the hits The Transporter (and its sequel, Transporter 2), Crank, War and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (which will be available on DVDtomorrow).

- The prolific tough guy has already starred this year in The Bank Job and will next be seen in Death Race (a remake of the cult classic Death Race 2000), in theaters this fall.

- Beyond that, he will star in not one, not two, but three sequels: a third Transporter, a second Crank and The Brazilian Job, all due next year.