Top Ten ’90s Heartthrobs: From Leonardo DiCaprio to Jonathan Taylor Thomas Inline
Photo: Alamy1/10Leonardo DiCaprio
We fell in love with pre-dadbod Leo over and over again in the nineties. Maybe the obsession began when he was just a wiry, chain-smoking teen in The Basketball Diaries, or as the hubristic gunslinger in The Quick and the Dead. But by the mid-nineties, Leo sealed his fate as the decade’s leading heartthrob with the one-two punch of Romeo + Juliet and Titanic. And we’ll never, ever let go.
Photo: Alamy2/10Ethan Hawke
For the girl who’s into anti-establishment rants, unwashed hair, and contemplative toothpick chewing, it doesn t get better than nineties-era Ethan Hawke.
Photo: Getty Images3/10Usher
Usher’s second album, My Way, was released in September 1997, bringing us such middle school dance classics as “You Make Me Wanna . . .” and “Nice Slow.” The album went platinum six times over in the United States. But forget all that: Usher introduced us to the appeal of skullcaps, billowing button-downs (always undone), and, of course, his abs. He also starred in She’s All That as the school’s resident DJ and on the UPN television series Moesha. (Remember Moesha?)
Photo: Alamy4/10Devon Sawa
Chances are after seeing Casper and Now and Then, you had just about enough of Christina Ricci stealing all those Sawa smooches.
Photo: Getty Images5/10Jonathan Taylor Thomas
You literally cannot get anymore peak nineties than JTT: He was the voice of Simba in The Lion King, starred in Wild America with fellow teen heartthrob Devon Sawa, and was on Home Improvement. (Home Improvement, anyone?)