George Clooney Photo by: Chris Jackson / Getty

He kicked off the year in dapper style to accept his first-ever Oscar, but on this cool L.A. evening, George Clooney is movie-star dazzling in an offhanded way: jeans, scuffed Harley motorcycle boots, a black tee and a green rubber bracelet that reads "Not on Our Watch," a reference to his activism on behalf of the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. He's just caught a screening of Ocean's 13 (due next summer) and exchanged a friendly hello with Clint Eastwood, whose office is next door.

Now Clooney settles into a leather chair in his own modest office (think basketballs and a plastic Batman mug) to sit down and chat with West Coast bureau chief Elizabeth Leonard. Relaxed and gracious, Clooney, 45, is thoroughly the Hollywood gentleman – and, now, the Sexiest Man Alive 2006.

George Answers the Big (and Not-So-Big) Questions

What's it like to go on a date with you? I don't go on that many dates, because the truth is, anytime you go out in public with a girl when you're well-known, there are pictures of you everywhere and it's like you're a thing. So mostly I spend time getting to know people at work or a party at a friend's house before I'm willing to go out to a restaurant and get clobbered by photographers. It puts so much pressure on dating immediately, and you just go, "Uh, sorry" – you're just always apologizing.