Hunk attack: 5 knockout males turn up the heat

MEKHI PHIFER

WHETHER portraying the dangerous thug on the big screen, or the sexy doctor who saves lives on television's hit drama series ER, Mekhi Phifer has a presence that commands attention.

And he's getting plenty of it.

Ruggedly handsome, Phifer, 28, first bounced on the scene in 1995 in Spike Lee's film Clockers. The Harlem native, at the time an aspiring rapper, had never been to acting school, and didn't even have the required headshot for Spike Lee's open casting call.

"My cousin and I had about $6 between us, so we took passport photos at a Woolworth photo booth," Phifer laughs. Lee saw something that he liked in the intense and charismatic young man, and finally chose Phifer over 1,000 actors for the lead role.

Today, some 22 films later, Phifer has emerged as a mainstay in Hollywood; he co-starred with rapper Eminem in the much-talked-about movie 8 Mile, one of the top-grossing movies of 2002 (now on DVD), and he's the co-star of Universal's upcoming movie Honey. In Honey, Phifer uncharacteristically portrays the good guy.

In real life, underneath all of that "thug" appeal, Phifer harbors an intense desire to portray the traditional father-figure and romantic lead. The son of a grade-school teacher, Phifer says he has never met his father, which drives him to be a standup dad for his own 3-year-old son, Omikaye.

Phifer adds that he's looking forward to making an investment in a relationship when the time is right.

"Through my marriage (he's divorced from actress Malinda Williams of Showtime's Soul Food) I've learned a lot about myself and it's a lot that I want to do to have my own peace of mind. I want to be a PTA dad, a soccer dad, I want to coach Little League, all of that," he says.

As for the Sister of his dreams, Phifer says: "I've had my share of women, and I like strong women who are doing their own thing. I like mature women who have their head on right, and who understand the laws of men and women."

BORIS KODJOE

MANY say that 29-year-old Boris Kodjoe is so beautiful, so perfect in every way, that he's practically every woman's cup of tea. And beneath the bronze Adonis' chiseled abs lies a quiet sensuality that especially drives Black women wild.

"In certain ways I am very much like Damon," Kodjoe says of his passionate Soul Food character: "He's a very sensitive and warmhearted person. He loves to take care of a woman and he knows how to treat people well."

And how does Boris rate those steamy Soul Food love scenes that have made him a household name? He's very proud of moves, he says.

"People aren't used to seeing a Black couple make love," he says. "They are used to seeing Black actors having sex, and not really expressing love. It was actually a milestone to see that in such an erotic and romantic way."

Born in Vienna, Austria, to Ursula Kodjoe, a German psychologist, and Eric Kodjoe, a West African physician, Kodjoe grew up in Germany and became one of the best tennis players in the country. In 1992, he accepted a scholarship to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. While studying, Kodjoe was courted by the Ford Modeling agency in New York, but he refused, deciding instead to concentrate on his education. After earning his marketing degree, Kodjoe joined the modeling agency, and the rest is history.

Most recently, Kodjoe co-starred in the hip-hop flick Brown Sugar, opposite Nicole Ari Parker, his Soul Food onscreen love interest, who is also rumored to be his off-screen love interest as well.

JAMES RILEY BLAKE

IT'S all love for James Blake, 24, on and off the tennis court. The 6-foot-1, caramel-coated Blake, blessed with wild sexy'locs, deep chestnut-colored eyes, and a killer smile, is widely known for his affable nature on the court, and his mesmerizing sex appeal off the court.

Yet what is most appealing about Blake, the son of a British mother, Betty, and a Black father, Tom, a 3M sales representative, is his habitual coolness, even in the face of searing racism that occurs in this so-called elitist sport.

As a poor child growing up in Yonkers, N.Y., in a neighborhood littered with crime and crack houses, (his own home was broken into no less than four times), Blake and his older brother spent their afternoons playing tennis in the Harlem Junior Tennis Program, where his dad was a volunteer. One day, his life was changed forever by a visit from tennis great Arthur Ashe.

"He's my role model because of his personality and his activities off the court," Blake explains. "I use him as an inspiration."

The studious Blake received all A's on his report card and later attended Harvard, where he became the first Harvard player to rank No. 1 in the NCAA.

It was then that he decided to follow his dream to play professional tennis, a move that has won him international fame, a career prize purse of nearly $600,000 and a budding modeling career.

Blake appears to have the world, but he admits that the one thing he's missing is a steady girlfriend.

"I'm single right now," he says. "My ideal partner is someone who is very happy with herself. There's nothing that excites me more than a girl who has a beautiful smile and loves to show it; it keeps me happy, especially if I'm the reason why she's smiling."