He’s fondly remembered for playing handsome plumber Mike Delfino on ABC soap opera Desperate Housewives.
And James Denton is still looking every inch the heart-throb almost a decade after the show finished airing.
The Nashville-born actor, 58, spoke to The Morning Show on Friday about his role on Desperate Housewives, which ran from 2004 to 2012.James said that while he was flattered to be called the ‘hottest man on TV’, the label did make him somewhat uncomfortable.
‘Are you okay with the “hottest man on TV” title?’ host Larry Emdur asked, referring to the many headlines spawned by his shirtless scenes.
‘No, I was never okay with it. I spent most of my career playing bad guys until Housewives,’ James replied.
‘I had never been hunky,’ he added.
‘I was happy to be there, don’t get me wrong, but it was uncomfortable. It follows me forever, that shirtless shot in the front yard.’
James said he started hitting the gym straight away and gave up alcohol and junk food when he first read the script for Desperate Housewives.
‘I got the scene and spat out the pizza and threw the beer down, went straight to the gym and I still didn’t get into very good shape,’ he said.
James also revealed he was happy with how his character was killed off on the show.
Mike was shot on Wisteria Lane and died in the arms of his on-again-off-again partner Susan Mayer, played by Teri Hatcher.
Since the show ended in 2012, James has starred in Hallmark’s Good Witch series as Dr. Sam Radford.
In 2014, James revealed he couldn’t wait to ‘get my kids out of LA’ after his eight-year run on Desperate Housewives came to an end.
He told People: ‘We moved to Minnesota right away. I’ve also got a house in rural Montana, which is our escape from Minnesota!’
James shares two children with his wife, personal trainer Erin O’Brien