There’s one every year: a man who delivers an intriguing breakout performance and inspires thirst across the sexual spectrum, finally assuming the mantle of Awards Season Boyfriend. He’s a flavor of Internet Boyfriend, but set against the specifically absurd parade of red carpets between November and March. Historically, such men are young and inventively dressed, like Timothée Chalamet in his harness-clad, Oscar-nominated, Call Me By Your Name ascendancy circa 2018—but cases have also been made for Brad Pitt in his golden comeback year of 2020 and Leonardo DiCaprio from 1997 to 2016.
This awards season—which is about to roar back into action with the BAFTAs, SAGs, Independent Spirit Awards, and, of course, the Oscars—there’s a bounty of new talent. Who is your ideal Awards Season Boyfriend? Take our quiz to find the one for you.
If you had an actorly type, it would be:
A: Interestingly Irish
B: Recently plucked from obscurity
C: Teen idol deftly leaping to film
D: Babygirl
E: Criminally underrated and finally getting his flowers
F: Daddy
Your idea of an alluring awards season performance is:
A: Slurping his best friend’s bath water like the dregs of a fountain Coke on a hot day
B: Getting unceremoniously abandoned at boarding school over Christmas break
C: Controversially making a life with his abusive, older ex-teacher
D: Elevating the Civil Rights right-hand man that history forgot
E: Frolicking naked in the heather of his manor home while reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
F: Making a light coating of post-apocalyptic dust look sexy
Your biggest red carpet style turn-ons are:
A: Fresh, k.d. lang-style spikes and a pearl necklace
B: Young Bob Dylan cosplay
C: Not one but two pairs of overlapping pants
D: A swath of bare chest and a flawless, floor-length gold Valentino coat
E: A proper three-piece suit, when he deigns to attend
F: Bottega Veneta and an orthopedic sling that only he can make fashion
When it comes to on-screen spiciness, you prefer:
A: Full-frontal nudity whilst vibing to Sophie Ellis Baxter
B: A chaste intergenerational bromance with a curdmudgeonly professor