Leading man or
leading gentleman is an informal term for the
actor who plays a love interest to the
leading actress in a film or play. A leading man is usually an all rounder; capable of singing, dancing, and acting at a professional level, but never outshining his female co-star. A good leading man could make a bad actress look better than she was and a good actress shine.
A
leading man can also be an actor who is
typecast in romantic roles. Less frequently, the epithet has been applied to an actor who is often associated with one particular actress, for example,
Errol Flynn was
Olivia de Havilland's leading man in several films,
Spencer Tracy had a similar association with
Katharine Hepburn; used in this sense, however, the woman is usually described as the
leading lady of the man.
The term is also used collectively, as in '
Hollywood's leading men' to refer to a group of notable, famous or popular actors. Some examples of modern leading men include
Tom Cruise,
Brad Pitt, and
Daniel Craig.
In
Bollywood, some leading men are
Shahrukh Khan,
Akshay Kumar and
Amitabh Bachan.