Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui has topped an annual poll of the world's 99 most desirable women, with organizers saying her appeal was boosted by the fact that she does not feature heavily in celebrity magazines.
The 32-year-old actress, best known for the TV series Entourage, was on Tuesday named by men's website AskMen.com as the woman with the qualities most men would want in a girlfriend or wife, taking the title from last year's winner Eva Mendes.
Previous winners of the annual list of the world's "Top 99 Most Desirable Women", now in its 10th year, include Katherine Heigl, Beyonce, Jessica Alba and Adriana Lima.
"Hearing what the vote is made of is the biggest compliment of all because it's about being a well-rounded woman. That's really empowering and is just a massive compliment to me," Chriqui said in a statement after coming 12th last year.
In second place in the 2010 poll, which involved about 8 million votes, was American model Marisa Miller and in the third slot was British actress Kate Beckinsale.
AskMen.com's editor-in-chief James Bassil said Chriqui's role in Entourage as a sweet, ideal girlfriend had helped her in the survey - but so had the fact that she is not over exposed.
"We don't see a lot of her. She is not a very public person so it leaves some room to the imagination. She is not out there making a spectacle of herself which could sully her image," he said.
"A lot of the behavior we see in the media is not the kind of behavior that you want to see in a girlfriend or wife. You can get over-saturation and we don't want to see their real and sometimes stained and depressed sides of their lives."
Chriqui has appeared in a list of films including Don't Mess With The Zohan, and TV series The OC and Entourage.
Celebrities like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears who appear regularly in the media did not feature at all in the 2010 list. Spears reappeared on the list in 2009 after a few years' absence but was out of favour again in 2010.
The top 20 women in the list of 99 (ranking in 2009 poll in brackets):
1. Emmanuelle Chriqui (12)
2. Marisa Miller (3)
3. Kate Beckinsale(10)
4. Alessandra Ambrosio(6)
5. Jessica Alba(15)
6. Beyounce(50)
7. Penelope Cruz(25)
8. Cheryl Cole(20)
9. Eva Mendes(1)
10. Miranda Kerr(46)
11. Megan Fox(2)
12. Gisele Bundchen(28)
13. Bar Refaeli(34)
14. Erin Andrews
15. Padma Laskshmi
16. Kelly Brook
17. Natalie Portman
18. January Jones(98)
19. Monica Bellucci(18)
20. Paz Vega(53)
