Source: Fox411
Date: November 18, 2009

People magazine has released their annual “Sexiest Man Alive” countdown and while Johnny Depp tops their list (yet again), we are more excited about some of the newbies.

Named People’s sexiest rising star, Fox411 caught up with “White Collar” star Matthew Bomer recently, where he shared all the juicy tidbits about his character, what he thinks is sexy and what it’s like to be the son of a Dallas Cowboy.

Don’t mention Bernie Madoff around Bomer, who plays a con artist working for the FBI in exchange for freedom on the USA series.

“I did not use Bernie Madoff as inspiration,” says Bomer. “I prefer to not compare my character to him and prefer to call what my character does as “social engineering” rather than con artistry. I looked more to “Ocean’s Eleven” and even “Ferris Bueller” to see how people manipulate people and manipulate for a better life.”

We couldn’t help but point out that Bomer is hell of a lot sexier than Bernie and that in researching the sexy aspect of social engineering, he probably didn’t find inspiration in Sheryl Weinstein’s “Madoff’s Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie & Me.”

Bomer agreed. “Stealing money directly from innocent people isn’t sexy. A lot of social engineers think of themselves as Robin Hoods, not Ponzi schemers and focus their work around something more sophisticated like art and forgery. They have much better taste than Madoff.”

Bomer, who is the son of former Dallas Cowboy John Bomer had a tough time pulling a fast one over his father when it came to scoring a new car. “I tried for years to get him to buy me one,” he said.

Rather Bomer sees his acting career as good prep for con artistry. “There is a strong correlation between con artistry and good acting. It’s about who you’re playing, who you’re impersonating, what you want to get, where you are going, why and how we’re going to get there and who is standing in the way.”

When we asked him if he’s been able to use this research to get him out of trouble with the police, Bomer first demurred: “Sometimes you can find out they are the smartest guys in the room. I’ve had cops who give me tickets and I’ve had some that let me off.” Perhaps channeling Neil Caffrey, his character on the show, he added: “If this show helps me with speeding tickets, I promise I’ll personally call you and let you know.”