Hall of Fame of Hot
Chad Michael Murray’s 9 Hottest Roles, Ranked
Few people were as ubiquitous as Chad Michael Murray in the early 2000s.
One Tree Hill. Dawson’s Creek. Gilmore Girls. House of Wax. Freaky Friday. A Cinderella Story. He was everywhere. But more than just his incredible run as the leading man for the millennial generation, Murray was just undeniably hot.
From stripping down for a threesome that never was on Dawson’s Creek to walking through Tree Hill High School with only basketballs to guard himself, there were few actors who showed more skin on network television than him. But even two decades later, Murray isn’t close to relinquishing his place in the pantheon of hot. This Christmas, he is proving that wine isn’t the only thing that gets better with age by starring and shedding clothes in Netflix’s The Merry Gentleman.
But where does his new male revue movie fall in the ranking of his hottest roles? Here’s where we think it stands!
9. Jack in Marvel's Agent Carter
While fans got a hint of it in One Tree Hill’s Season 6 flashback episode, Marvel’s Agent Carter solidified it: Chad Michael Murray wears the 1940s well. As Jack Thompson, he leads the bureaucratic brunt force of the law around Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) in the aftermath of Captain America: The First Avenger. Too few people give Agent Carter the credit it deserves, and Murray was a big part of why it worked so well in this form. While he was almost always covered up in layers of trench coats and suspenders, there is something to be said for the maturity and stoicism with which Jack brought out in Murray. Upholding law, and also breaking it, in the last days of peace in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was no easy feat.
8. Jake in Freaky Friday
While we admit the hair was not among his best looks, the leather jacket-wearing, motorcycle-riding Jake was the kind of tough-guy teenager with a sensitive side that only exists in the movies. Premiering just a few months before One Tree Hill, he offered an early peek at what made him such a compelling romantic lead. Plus, was there anything better than the image of a grinning Jamie Lee Curtis (inhabited by Lindsay Lohan) clinging to his back as they speed away on his motorcycle? We can’t wait to see just how hot he is in Freakier Friday in 2025 now that Jake has better hair!
7. Edgar Evernever in Riverdale
Every cult leader, no matter how detestable to the outside world, has to have the charisma to court devotion from their people, and who can blame the followers of Edgar Evernever for bending a knee when he looks like Chad Michael Murray? The later seasons of Riverdale were one part crazy and another part insane, and Murray’s health-guru messiah leader for a shadowy cult that harvests organs is actually among the tamer things the show did. Yet, Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch), Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Alice (Mädchen Amick) all drank the proverbial kool-aid at one point or another, and it wasn’t just because Edgar was known to take his shirt off for more than one cult meeting. It’s because Murray imbued him with a magnetism that begged to be worshipped.
6. Lucas in Mother of the Bride
In the most respectful way possible, Murray’s role in Netflix’s destination wedding rom-com Mother of the Bride is to look pretty and remind Brooke Shields that she can still have any man she wants. As Lucas (yes, that is a One Tree Hill reference), a Los Angeles doctor vacationing in Thailand, Murray is immediately taken with the gorgeous mother of the bride that crosses his path. And while he quickly sees she still carries a torch for the one that got away (Benjamin Bratt), even Shields can’t help but appreciate the sight of a shirtless Lucas in paradise.
5. Charlie in Dawson's Creek
He wasn’t the best guy in Dawson’s Creek, per se, but there’s no denying that the spiky-haired charm of playboy musician Charlie was hot. After all, he had romances of varying degrees with both Jen (Michelle Williams) and Joey (Katie Holmes). Plus, who could resist him singing “I Want You To Want Me,” before he jet-setted off on tour with his band? Talk about a story for the grandkids someday.
4. Lucas in One Tree Hill
As soon as Lucas Scott walks out of that locker room wearing only basketballs in the pilot of One Tree Hill, Murray became an icon of the millennial generation. Despite that eye-popping introduction, Lucas was the still sensitive, introspective Scott brother. The one who wrote poems and dreamed of a bigger future. Of course, that attracted every single woman within a 20-mile radius in Tree Hill. But over six seasons, Murray explored the depths of Lucas’ kindness and warmth. He was a soulful outlier in a teen drama world, frequently getting himself into trouble but always leading with his heart. There’s something to be said for the quiet type.
3. Luke in The Merry Gentlemen
In an episode of Schitt’s Creek, Catherine O’Hara’s Moira Rose imparts a life lesson we can all learn from about preserving our youth: “Take a thousand naked pictures of yourself now.” Murray must have been watching that episode because in Netflix’s holiday strip-show romp, The Merry Gentlemen, he gets close enough to immortalizing his sex appeal for the future. Truly, it’s hard to quantify just how hot he is as Luke, a handyman who reluctantly leads a festive male revue to save a small-town bar, The Rhythm Room. For instance, even with a little practice, Murray isn’t the best dancer. But boy, does it not matter. Just the first look images of the film melted the internet — further proof he’s still got it.
2. Austin Ames in A Cinderella Story
A football star who kisses Hilary Duff in the rain AND the perfect gentleman dressed as Prince Charming at the school dance? A Cinderella Story fed Murray fans more than they could have ever dreamed when it came out just as One Tree Hill was taking off. The aforementioned kissing in the rain scenes would be enough to earn a place in the hall of fame of grand romantic gestures of the 2000s. But to also put him in that perfectly tailored Regency-era outfit to live out the full Cinderella fantasy was just a bonus. Honestly, it may have ruined the expectations of high school girls for an entire generation.
1. Nick in House of Wax
This might be a controversial pick for the top slot, but Murray has never been sexier than when he is in protective older brother mode. When you think of 2005’s House of Wax remake, one image almost certainly comes to mind. He’s standing half-naked over a pit of rotting animal parts after he literally offers his sister Carly (Elisha Cuthbert) the shirt off his back when she falls face first into the decomposing goo. He’s got the shaved head, the tattoo, the zero-percent body fat. It was prime CMM mania. But it’s the rest of the movie that gets our blood pumping, as Murray’s Nick desperately tries to save his sister and himself from the demented killer operating a town made entirely of wax. Every bit of it works, from his ferocious heroism to the unbelievably sexy way he jumps on that garage door to close it. The fact that even that mundane act was memorable shows just how good and hot he was. Seriously, how dare someone still look that good caked in dirty wax?
