August 17, 1960
"All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine," legendary surfer-slacker Jeff Spicoli proclaimed in 1982's classic teen flick
Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Although the role of Spicoli helped launch Sean Penn's stellar acting career, his stoner mantra couldn't be any less relevant when it comes to the life of the actor himself. After a brief, tumultuous marriage to Madonna, the actor found his groove as a death-row inmate in 1995's
Dead Man Walking. The role earned Penn his first of five Oscar nominations—he's since gone on to win the coveted Best Actor award for both
Mystic River and
Milk
. Penn has also established himself behind the camera, directing the 2007 film
Into the Wild. Recently, Penn proved he can still party like Spicoli, ringing in his 50th by
barhopping with Bono in Dublin,
The Daily Mail reported. For the actor, age ain't nothing but a number. "Turning 40, as an age, didn't bother me in itself,"
he told Cinema.com. "I'll go 50 or 60 and still not care. I've always felt I was more like 76, so that's when I'll say, 'Oh finally!' I'll feel old at 77." But at 27 years shy of his personal old-age mark, the recently divorced Penn is still quite the ladies' man— he is heavily rumored to be dating
Scarlett Johansson, 24 years his junior. And, Spicoli or not, he's still got the
surfer dude bod.
September 9, 1960
At 32 years old, Hugh Grant won the role that made him an overnight international star—Charles, a debonair bachelor, in the 1994 British romantic comedy
Four Weddings and a Funeral. The performance earned Grant a Golden Globe and established his brand of bumbling British charm. Despite his infamous 1995 prostitution bust with Divine Brown—and even
more infamous mugshot—Grant's then-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley stood by him until their "amicable" split in 2000. Scandals aside, Grant's charming onscreen persona continued to propel him through many more romantic comedies, from
Notting Hill to
Love Actually. He also reinvented himself as a cad in films such as
Bridget Jones's Diary and
About a Boy, still retaining his trademark charm. With his droopy eyes and ear-to-ear smile, Grant is still a hit with the women and has been known to crash the occasional college party, The
Daily Mail reported. Of course, he doesn't see himself that way. "I see a sad, angry, hungover middle-aged man dreading the day," he told PopEater while promoting his latest
Did You Hear About the Morgans? "This morning I was shaving and I looked over at the mirror but my face stayed pointing down. I thought 'That's a new one. That's bad.'" Who doesn't love a self-effacing Brit?
September 10, 1960
Tall, dark, and handsome, Colin Firth first gained recognition as a member of 'The Brit Pack'—a group of young English actors on the rise in the late 1980s—alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Gary Oldman. But, it wasn't until the 1995 BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice that Firth achieved bona-fide heartthrob status. He won over housewives everywhere as the aloof romantic Mr. Darcy, including author Helen Fielding, who made Darcy the love interest for her fictional journalist in her book,
Bridget Jones's Diary. Firth would go on to play the dashing Mark Darcy in the film adaptation of Fielding's novel and its sequel
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason,
alongside his one-day-older pal, Hugh Grant. Firth has racked up an impressive résumé over the years, starring in
The English Patient,
Shakespeare in Love, and with Grant yet again in
Love Actually. He sang and danced his way into women's hearts in
Mamma Mia! and melted the hearts of men with his recent role in Tom Ford's directorial debut,
A Single Man. The film earned Firth his first Academy Award nomination and though he didn't win in 2010, he did take home the Oscar in 2011 for
The King’s Speech. But sorry ladies (and gentlemen), this one's taken—Firth has been married to wife Livia Giuggioli for 13 years.
August 7, 1960
With degrees from Princeton and Yale, David Duchovny is blessed with brains to go along with that sexy, laid-back demeanor and iconic dimple chin. The actor got his start on the kinky cult TV show
Twin Peaks as a transvestite DEA agent. But Duchovny's big break came in 1993 when he began his stint as conspiracy theorist Fox Mulder on the sci-fi TV series
The X-Files. The long-running hit show—which has spurned several film adaptations—earned him a Golden Globe in 1997, not to mention, legions of nerdy admirers. Duchovny went on to parody his Mulder character in Ben Stiller's comedy film
Zoolander as hand model J.P. Prewitt. Today, the actor stars as sex-addicted author Hank Moody on Showtime's TV series
Californication. He won a Golden Globe for the role in 2007, and, in an example of life imitating art, reportedly checked into rehab for nymphomania himself in 2008. However, the horny actor is no longer on the prowl: Following a brief split, he's since reconciled with his wife of 13 years, actress Téa Leoni.
August 10, 1960
Now known for his Don Juan status, Antonio Banderas first caught the eye of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar in the 1980s. The Oscar-winning director cast Banderas to portray a string of troubled gay characters before his breakthrough role as Ricky, a man who kidnaps a porn star in order to win her love in the 1990 film
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! Banderas broke into Hollywood in 1993, portraying yet another gay character—Tom Hanks' love interest in
Philadelphia. He went on to achieve leading man—and lady-killing—status as the guitar-case-wielding, Salma Hayek-sexing gunslinger in 1995's
Desperado and then co-starred with Madonna in the 1996 musical
Evita. Banderas solidified his status as an action hero in 1998's
The Mask of Zorro,
opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones and shared one of the hottest sex scenes ever with Angelina Jolie in 2001's
Original Sin. He's since spun off his
Zorro character into the wily animated swashbuckler Puss in Boots in the
Shrek film franchise, and the upcoming
Puss in Boots movie. Banderas has been married to actress Melanie Griffith since 1996 and will next appear in Woody Allen's
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger as, fittingly, the tall dark stranger who seduces Naomi Watts. Seemingly, he still has a way with blondes.
May 10, 1960
Paul David Hewson—known primarily by his stage name, Bono—is both the lead singer of the Dublin-based band U2 and a highly renowned philanthropist. Forever in his tinted sunglasses, Bono is, without a doubt, a music legend—and continues to be at age 50. It's hard not to fall for a man who can both rock out and has a soft spot for the less fortunate people of the world. Bono's humanitarian work has earned him major accolades: a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, recognition as one of
Time magazine's "Persons of the Year" in 2005 (alongside Bill and Melinda Gates), and an
honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. Tough luck, though, for anyone dreaming to snatch the crooner up: Bono's been married to Ali Hewson, the co-owner of their socially conscious clothing line Edun, since 1982.
July 15, 1960
California-born Willie Aames is best known as best friend Buddy Lembeck from the 1980s hit TV show
Charles in Charge. Sure, he's no Scott Baio (who also turns 50 in the near future), but the sitcom sidekick still made a name for himself apart from smooth, wise-talkin' Brooklynite Baio who originally broke teenage hearts as the Fonz's cousin, Chachi, on
Happy Days. Though Aames fell into alcohol and drug addiction, he
escaped as a born-again Christian and ordained minister, starring as the superhero Bibleman from 1995 to 2004 in a video series and accompanying nationwide tour. Now a 50-year-old bachelor—Aames divorced his second wife in 2007—the hunky actor is financially sound (or so it appears) since filing for bankruptcy two years ago. (In 2009, VH1 documented his money woes in
Broke & Famous: Willie Aames.) The actor's latest vocation is cruise director for Oceanic Cruises. "I'd hit rock bottom and now I'm back on top,"
Aames told the National Enquirer of his new gig. After all, everyone loves a man in uniform.
August 24, 1960
Cal Ripken Jr. is Maryland's holy son of baseball. The Major League Baseball star played his 20-year career as a shortstop and third baseman for one team only: the Baltimore Orioles. Nicknamed "Iron Man," Ripkin broke Lou Gehrig's record for the number of consecutive games played and is considered one of the best players to ever set foot on a baseball diamond. He was
inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 and is now the CEO of Ripken Baseball Inc., a company he founded with his brother in an effort to grow baseball at the grassroots level. Not only has Ripken become an ambassador for the sport, but he's involved in diplomatic forays, too, as
special public diplomacy envoy to the U.S. State Department. Who wouldn't give into a guy with steel blue eyes like Ripken's?
December 10, 1960
Jake Ryan was "ideal, for sure," in John Hughes' Brat Pack classic
Sixteen Candles. And the man who played him, former actor and model Michael Schoeffling, has maintained his high-school crush status for more women than just the movie's protagonist, played by Molly Ringwald. Jake's sex appeal has endured for decades. "There are women out there in their late-20s to mid-30s (and even younger, including teenage girls today who weren't even around in that era) who to this day are still pining for a fictional character, the perfect high school crush,"
The Washington Post wrote of the Jake character. Schoeffling, the man behind the heartthrob, appeared in a number of films after his hugely successful debut (
Slaves of New York (1989) and
Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (1991), for example), but was never able to match the success of
Sixteen Candles. As he pushes 50, Schoeffling—married to a former model with two children—now owns a wood-working business, where he produces handmade furniture. Men in the carpentry industry are apparently meant to be worshipped.
