What TV/Movie Character Led to Your Sexual Awakening?

Julian Sands in A Room With A View. This post went crazy. 🤣

Everyone from the Mummy except For Jonathan! That’s my bisexual awakening!

Jim Carrey in The Mask…I don’t know you guys, it just was.

I had had celebrity crushes, but the carnal awakening was Luke Perry. HONEY.

My sexual awakening can be traced to Grease 2, no question. Adrian Zmed, Maxwell Caulfield, and Michelle Pfeiffer. The whole movie is sexually charged IMO. The confidence in Adrian, the way Maxwell just smoldered and way I wanted to be Michelle. Wowza.

I was six years old the first time I saw Bradley Cooper as Will Tippin in “Alias,” and from that day forward, I knew I was doomed to be attracted to men forever.

In celebration of the music and life of D’Angelo … that 2000 release of the music video for Untitled. Whew. The eyes to the camera… that voice.

Late to the game (and I know both were mentioned): River Phoenix (poster in my closet!) and Johnny Depp in 21 Jumpstreet. (I remember writing letters to him in marker in front of our TV in the playroom next to the plastic Christmas tree that lived there until Christmas when we took it downstairs).

Gilbert Blythe!!!! Forever and Always <3 <3 <3

Ummm… Slash. I was 3. My dad sent away for an 8×10 glossy of him that I put up in my room.

I was QUITE young when I watched “Labyrinth,” but David Bowie stirred something in me that I didn’t yet understand. The eye makeup, the tight pants…”the babe with the power” indeed!

Michael Schoeffling as Al Carver in Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.

Lee Majors from the Fall guy. Hugh Laurie from House, Vincent D’Onofrio from Law and Order CI. Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing, & Al Pachino in Frankie and Johnny.

I love this thread. Christopher Reeve as Superman. Jennifer Beals in Flashdance. I remember the full body flush from both!

Val Kilmer. Willow was a good one, but Real Genius swept my nerdy self away!

My Girl 2 and Now and Then. Still give me butterflies when I think about them. Precursors were Neverending story (Atreyu!), Mighty Ducks (Joshua Jackson), and Hook (Rufio! Rufio!). Christian Bale in Little Women ruined the actual ending forever—Jo one hundred percent should have ended up with him. No one’s ever been more beautiful or more fun.

Sully from Dr Quinn Medicine Woman. My goodness.

Dickon in the 1993 “The Secret Garden”- anybody else?

David Moscow in Big! The cutest.

I had a poster of Tom Cruise in Top Gun that I kissed every night before bed when I was about 11. Then Romeo & Juliet when I was in 7th grade, and I can’t remember if I added the Leo poster, or full on replaced Tom Cruise.

Robin Hood, yes! I also remember being VERY into the character Thomas in Disney’s Pocahontas…who I just googled and see he was voiced by Christian Bale! Something about Christian Bale, man.

Brad Pitt, Thelma and Louise. I guess it was the muscles. And the confidence.

Mine is more about actors than characters. Fresh out of college in the midwest, I landed a journalism job in LA and found myself at the press junket for the movie Go. I was SO excited to interview Scott Wolf, who I thought was so cute on Party of Five, and I had an entire new outfit from BCBG on in his honor. In person, he struck me as sweet but bland, and that was fine because I had a full-body late-bloomer awakening in the presence of Timothy Olyphant, who oozing BDE before that was a thing. I remember him grinning at me slyly – that awakening was no doubt easy to read – and draping himself over a chair he was almost too tall to sit in. What a vibe – and I bet the silver-haired version of him has it to this day!

No mention of Ruffio from Hook?

Sorry to out myself as a Trekkie but…every cast member of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine? Like truly all of them?? I was about 12 or 13 and it truly cemented my identity as bi and demisexual, once I bonded with that crew, they could all get it! Real and mirror universe Major Kira Nerys! Bisexual icon Jadzia Dax! Worf! Keiko! Baseball dad Benjamin Sisko! Our Man Disaster Bashir! Repressed grumpy Miles O’Brien! Sexy hologram Vic Fontaine! Leeta in her union organizer mode! Mr. Garak if you’re nasty!

Very niche but: the hero from the bbc adaptation of north and south?? I had the last (very swoony) episode of it video taped and would not let anyone tape over it. He had the same effect on Dawn French, apparently: she devoted an episode of Vicar of Dibley to him.

Josh Hartnett! I saw a pic of him recently and homeboy still looks good. Other tween/middle school/high school crushes include Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You, Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire, the beast in Beauty and The Beast (only as the beast though, ha), George Clooney in One Fine Day, Freddie Prince Jr. in She’s All That and Omar Epps in Love and Basketball.

Robert Redford washing Meryl Streep’s hair in Out of Africa. OMG.

A reply of an Elvis concert. I watched it in my basement. I was 9 or 10. My husband is the only one I’ve ever told!

JFK jr sexiest man alive cover !

I had such a crush on Robin Hood when I was a kid. What a hot little fox. And Westley too. How funny. Izzy and I must be one in the same.

Harrison Ford as Han Solo, and just a few years later as Indiana Jones. Even now in his 80s he is totally swoon-worthy.

1. Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables – first from my imagination in the book and then from the 1980’s mini series. 2. Newsies – a whole movie filled with cute boys who could sing and dance?? My friends and I watched it every weekend for months and then choreographed our own versions of the dance numbers. Thank goodness we didn’t have social media in those days! 3. Dead Poets Society – hot guys who recited poetry and found a love for words? My angsty high school heart found nothing sexier.

I grew up in a very conservative household, so we mostly watched movies made before 1960 (I’m a millennial). I think it was Cary Grant and Fred Astaire 😂

Benny the Jet Rodriguez from The Sandlot was my childhood celebrity crush. 🤣

Joe McIntire Nkotb

There are too many comments and I should be working. But I hope Luke Perry is being represented. :::swoon:::.

Omg Devin Sawa in Little Giants and Now & Then, swoooon. I see you, fellow elder millennials, rewinding the VHS to rewatch each lingering look, each kiss, and the scene where he backflips naked into the pond. Honourable mention to Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Devin Sawa and JTT together in Wild America nearly did me in), Prince William, and Corey and Topanga in Boy Meets World, my bicurious awakening!

Kevin Bacon as Val in Tremors and Bernard from The Santa Clause!!!

I was reading people’s comments and thinking I didn’t have one, but then people were reminding me of movies from youth that I totally forgot about. School Ties, the entire cast! Chris O’Donnell from Circle of Friends. Benny from the Sandlot. Kevin from the Wonder Years. Something about my husband reminds me of them too…

Jack Dawson in Titanic. Everything about him!!! I dreamed about him for YEARS after watching it for the first time at age 13. Funnily enough I’ve watched Leonardo DiCaprio in other movies and did not feel similarly at all. There is just something about Jack!!

Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing. When he’s dressed in all black, with those arms and those eyes, staring at Baby….WHEW!!! I remember thinking “what are these tingly feelings I’m having??”

The boy who played Jim Hawkins in Muppet Treasure Island. I also remember feeling tingly when an all-boys choir performed at my middle school when I was around 10yo. So I guess I had a thing for boys who sang before their voices dropped?

When I was young? Rutger Hauer in Ladyhawke!!! Full on MAN and yet so romantic and grumpy and yearning and protective. Yes please! And then I grew up, got married, had difficult children, got very busy and older and wider and so tired and felt very disconnected from my body and any needs. And then I read Heated Rivalry and The Long Game by Rachel Reid (does it count if it’s being made into a mini-series being released next month?). Wow! That brought me back! Somehow the two lovely male romantic leads reminded me what it meant to want and better yet, to get out of my head about caring about judging myself, my body, what I wanted to do, being still shy with my husband of thirty some years. Its been amazing to feel connected and free and just do and say what I want. You may or may not like the books or the tv series, but I highly recommend just going for what you want and not apologizing for your self and your life!!!

Micheal J Fox… all the late 80s/early 90s incarnations

David Bowie in the movie Labyrinth. He says ‘Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave’. And I remember thinking, yea that works for me!

Ethan Hawke in Before Sunrise. Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites. Ethan Hawke in Great Expectations. Ethan Hawke…

As a gay man, mine came in phases that still don’t make sense to me and I will never understand. First, Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2, followed quickly by Michelle Pfeifer in Batman Returns. Ok, find me a gay man that doesn’t love a powerful woman, but unlike most I didn’t want to be them, I was legitimately aroused. Then came Clive. Clive Owen in closer saying all of those very naughty words with his scarred lip and English Accent. OOOWEE, it was on like donkey kong. Other key moments worth mentioning: Gavin Rosdale singing Gycerine in the pouring rain on MTV’s Spring Break. Jared Leto as Jordan Catalano Robbie Williams Rock DJ music Video Denzel Washington in Devil in a Blue Dress

Heath Ledger in ‘A Knights Tale’! The armor, the jousting, the hair!

Not original at all, but Dirty Dancing was mine. Not particurlarly Patrick Swayze, but whole dancing thing….

Ok so maybe not quite sexual awakenings but these made me more “aware” of things: 1. I’d say I’m straight(ish) but Claire Forlani in Mallrats? Holy hell. I thought she was a DREAM and her boyfriend in the movie DID NOT deserve to breathe the same air as her. 2. The phone sex scene in The Truth About Cats & Dogs. 3. In Encino Man when the female potential love interest snogs her dirtbag boyfriend at high school (near the beginning of the movie).

Gilbert Blythe in Anne of green gables and river phoenix in running on empty

I didn’t watch a ton of movies as a younger child and my childhood crushes were mainly musicians. I will say there was something about Robin Hood that I don’t think I acknowledged until I read it here! I think it was Brian Bedford’s voice. Also,the Karate Kid. I later dated a boy that looked just like him so the movie did something to me. I know I’m going on a subgenre here but Jordon from New Kids on the Block? I was in love with that dude. Later, Tupac. Those eyes.

Omg Ethan Hawke firstly in School Ties (also, Matt Damon + Brendan Fraser) and then again in Reality Bites (greasy hair!) and of course, Before Sunrise! And the whole trilogy, which was amazing because I was growing up at the same rate, and so each movie I’ve been the exact right age to still list after Ethan Hawke, which is very convenient! I live in Australia, and my uncle used to live in N.Y.C in the 80s and early 1990s, he was well aware of my obsession with him. One day in 1994 I received a letter from him in the mail, detailing how he had literally bumped into Ethan Hawke on the street near his house, and I just about DIED. In that moment I felt so connected to him! Haha.

Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow both in Shakespeare in Love. I haven’t watched that movie in decades but came to mind instantly!

Devon Sawa as the boy version of Casper the friendly ghost in the 90s movie Casper. The briefest of appearances but made a very big impression on me

Gabriel Byrne in the kids movie Shipwrecked! He was the villain and I was absolutely hypnotized by him. Also Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. Realizing for the first time writing this that pre-teen me clearly had a type.

Corey Haim (RIP) License to Drive!!

Dennis Quaid as Nick Parker in The Parent Trap! The white tee, brown suede jacket-wearing, wine loving single dad. Sign me up any day.

The Outsiders! OMG, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez… SWOON. And more specifically, the Rob Lowe shower scene. IYKYK.

8 year old me: Ralph Macchio in the Karate Kid. I dreamed of being Elizabeth Shue. Then, I noticed I was also thinking about Elizabeth Shue! ;)

Keanu Reeves forever

Mickey Rourke in 91/2 weeks also early Johnny Depp!!!

Leonard Whiting in the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet. Timothy Hutton in Taps. My, oh, my, did I yearn. And just like that, I’m suddenly back in my childhood room, hunkered under my chenille bedspread with my Judy Blume… and Shaun Cassidy posters plastered on my walls. Yes. Shaun Cassidy, too.

Somebody please say Christian Slater in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.

Young George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life. That scene where he rescues his brother from the frozen pond?? Whew! 9-year-old me was smitten.

Reading over the comments, I’m glad I’m not alone in my childhood crush on an anthropomorphic fox living in oldy-timey England. (But umm…Tommy Kirk as Ernst Robinson in the 1960 movie Swiss Family Robinson…Anyone??? 11-year-old me thought he was cuuuuute and I rewatched this as often as I could at Gma’s house!)

Highly specific moments: Bill Pullman as the dad in Casper, awoooga Tom Selleck in the running shorts in Three Men and a Baby David Bowie, Labyrinth loveme, fear me, do as I say

Mine was Seth Cohen in the OC and after watching Nobody Wants This, TWELVE YEAR OLD ME WAS SO RIGHT! Adam Brody remains a certified hottie.

I can relate to so many already listed here (Jonathan Brandis, cartoon Robin Hood, Keanu in Speed), BUT I clearly remember the feelings that awoke in me when Hicks (Michael Biehn) from Aliens stands behind Ripley and teaches her how to use a machine gun. I was a strange 12 year-old.