Are you tired of your wife comparing you to that guy who plays a doctor on TV? Be careful. Patrick Dempsey — weekend racer and all-American good guy — might be just the kind of friend you wish you had. By Ned Martel
Does anyone need a $1.7 million supercar that can outrun a hurricane? Bugatti, the most hallowed name in auto history, is gambling that some 300 people do. But the company has seen some rough roads, and the end of an era might be around the corner. By Dan Neil
After a stormy off-season, Alex Rodriguez is back on course for the record books and, perhaps, that ever-elusive ring. Can baseball's $275-million man redeem himself — and the game? By Seth Mnookin
Viggo Mortensen can swing a broadsword as Aragorn or neatly fillet a Russian mobster. But off-screen, the Oscar nominee is a life-giving force, playing big brother to a band of poets, painters, and searchers like him. By Phoebe Eaton
Flouting the rules of Hollywood, Daniel Day-Lewis—now in his most charged role yet—has made four movies in the past decade and answers to no one. What is so crazy about that? By Sophie Dahl
Will Smith seems dead set on saving humanity one movie at a time. And as his box office numbers prove and the world never wearies of him, the happy rapper, family guy, and spiritual seeker dares you not to dig his act. By Hudson Morgan
Back when he was just a tie salesman, Ralph Lauren's first splurge was a white convertible. Forty years later, he pulls back the tarp on what has become the world's greatest car collection. By Hudson Morgan
Tony Blair left Britain better than he found it, and now the bombers in Baghdad and the tabloids in London are someone else's problem. Of course, he isn't done being a world leader, with his most ambitious diplomatic mission just beginning. By Roger Cohen
The NBC Nightly News anchor knows how to hug curves at 180 mph, what it takes to thump network rivals, and when to keep a president's confidences. His secret: To be taken seriously, you must make them laugh. By Ned Martel
Rupert Murdoch pays him $10 million a season, and Bush's war council studies Jack Bauer's anti-terror tactics. It's no wonder Kiefer Sutherland has learned to make every second count. By Tim Adams
Hugh Jackman works his magic in The Prestige and travels through millennia in The Fountain. His next trick: transforming himself from Aussie actor to global mogul. By Gaby Wood
On tour, he dominates; off the course, he disappears into his own private world. In an extensive interview, Tiger Woods allows himself to be seen as he really is. By David Owen
George Clooney takes on two of America's most divisive chapters — the McCarthy hearings and the war on terror — to prove to the world he's got spine. By Tom Shone