Even Mr Darcy diving into a lake doesn't quite match the brooding allure of of Michael as Rochester in 2011's Jane Eyre. Smouldering.

One of cinema's hottest talents shows facial hair is definitely a good thing, on the set of Angel in Rome, in 2007.

Michael saluting his fans with his Dangerous Method co-star, Vincent Cassel, at Venice Film Festival last year.

.... and he's talented too. Michael winning the award for Best Actor, also at Venice Film Festival.

2008 movie Hunger marks the beginning of Michael’s rise to fame. A true professional, Michael starved himself for several weeks to prepare for his award-winning performance as prisoner Bobby Sand.

Michael gives Brad Pitt a run for his money in the casual chic stakes, in a light blue shirt and aviator glasses in Venice, Italy, last year.

Chiselled and poised at a photo call for action movie X-Men: First Class last year.

If Michael's latest film, A Dangerous Method, is getting some fabulous reviews, we can't say the same about the moustache he sports, in the role of psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Oh, the things actors have to do for their art these days...

After a small part in action flick, 300 in 2006, Michael took up the role of another soldier fighting for his life in 2010 film Centurion. Clearly, this role involved a lot of taking off his top - a shocking state of affairs, we're sure you'll agree...

Michael wows the cameras with a dazzling smile at the Film Critics' Circle Awards in New York last year.

There is no good action film without a good villain, and Michael's portrayal of Magneto in X-Men: First Class ticks all the boxes.

When Steve and his girlfriend decide to go on a romantic trip together, little do they know that this could be the last thing they ever do... Try not to watch 2008 horror flick Eden Lake through your hands, or you might end up missing some serious eye candy.

After working together on X-Men, Michael and Zoë Kravitz (pictured centre) officially announced themselves as a couple in 2011. They dated for few months before eventually calling it quit in July.

Perhaps inspired by his role in Man on a Motorcycle, Fassbender dons a leather jacket during the British Grand Prix in Silverstone last yar.

It's another winning grin from the Irish actor at a gala film screening for Shame in Los Angeles, 2011.

Once again, Michael proved he could rock a three-piece suit like no one else as he walked the BFI red carpet at the London Film Critics' Circle Awards earlier this month.

Throughout his career so far, Michael has got to share the screen with quite a few beautiful women, including Mia Wasikowska and even Keira Knightley (pictured here at the National Board of Review Awards Gala in New York last year).

Another effortlessly cool look from Michael in a vintage Iron Maiden T-shirt and leather jacket at Toronto International Film Festival in 2011.

Like many others, Fassebender’s career started on the small screen where he appeared in various TV shows, including Agatha Cristie’s Poirot (pictured). Dashing, if you ask us - especially the trilby...

Michael's past girlfriends have included Zoë Kravitz and January Jones and here he is at the Fish Tank premiere at Cannes in 2009, as always with a beautiful lady on his arm.

After the success of Hunger in 2008, Michael teamed up with director Steve McQueen once again for Shame, a film in which he portrays a man dealing with his sexual addiction.

Facial hair or not, Michael looks handsome as ever on the red carpet in Cannes for the premiere of Hunger in 2008.

Proving he looks just as cool in battered blue jeans and a tee as in his red carpet tuxedos, Michael flashes a cheeky grin in Ireland in 2008.

Michael's been putting in plenty of time on the red carpet recently promoting his two new films, Shame and A Dangerous Method, and we're not complaining...

Michael sure looked like the perfect golden boy as he made his way to the X-Men: First Class premiere in a vintage convertible in 2011.