NEW YORK (AP) - Hugh Jackman has been named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive.

The magazine's executive editor, Jess Cagle, tells NBC's "Today" show that Jackman is a "surprising choice," but he'd been on the editors' minds "for a long time and it seemed like this was the year to do him."

Cagle points out that not only is Jackman's career at its peak, with the "X-Men" movies and his upcoming epic with Nicole Kidman "Australia," but he's "built like a tank."

Kidman throws her two cents in, telling People that "women's jaws drop when Hugh walks in a room."


(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)