Man Candy Mondays: Eric Martsolf

Eric Martsolf

Born: July 27, 1971

Hometown: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Height: 6'2"

Why we love Eric Martsolf: His character is related to almost all of the legendary villains on Days of Our Lives, but nice guy Eric Martsolf plays power-hungry Brady Black effortlessly — not to mention that he's easy on the eyes!

He's a (sexy and) prolific actor

Prior to ruling our afternoons as Brady Black on Days of Our Lives and, before that, as Ethan Winthrop on Passions, Martsolf acted in a whopping 1,500-plus theater performances. Most notable of those? His portrayal of Pharoah in the play Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which garnered major critical acclaim.

So does he like being the bad guy — solely on TV, that is? Sure! "I think I like playing the villain because I'm a pretty decent guy at home," he told MaximoTV.com at this year's Daytime Emmy Awards. "I'm a dad of twin boys and I take out the garbage and I wash the dishes, so it's nice to go to work and just beat the crap out of a really mean, awful guy on my show."

Hey, we won't argue with seeing Martsolf tussling about in choreographed fisticuffs!

He fulfilled our superhero fantasies

We love superheroes here at Man Candy Mondays, and Martsolf delivered tenfold when he played fictional superhero Booster Gold on Smallville this year — a role that he specifically was recruited for! What a fun surprise to see Brady Black playing an egotistical time-traveler!

When a dedicated fan of the series approached him with a Booster Gold comic book to sign, our Eric was thrilled: "You, me, and the other fans, we really gotta get to work on convincing Geoff (Johns) to write a Booster Gold TV series. Even if it's not me playing Booster. It's just such a cool character. I mean, he's already come back from the future, right? So that's taken care of, and you could even have some fun with him traveling through time in the series. I'd love to see more of Booster Gold in TV."

We love a man who's enthusiastic about all of his characters!

He loves his fans — and charities

Martsolf is a gem in that he truly appreciates his fans. He's even been known to answer questions personally on the forums on his website, EricMartsolf.com. Talk about hands-on!

Lately, he's been involved with charities ranging from the American Liver Association to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. "I tend to throw myself into charities that are attached to children," he told The Trades. "That probably has a lot to do with being a fresh father of 5-year-old twins — it just changes your perspective on the world and what's really important. So anything that has to do with children you'll probably find me at, because that's where my heart is at this point in my life, wholeheartedly."

Selfless and sexy? Does he have a clone that we can take home?

Eric Martsolf's
relationship status:

Hands off, ladies: Martsolf's a family man. He's been married to his wife, actress/dancer Lisa Kouchak (you've seen her in the Minnie Driver movie Beautiful), since 2003 — they met each other while touring with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (aw!). The couple has 5-year-old twin sons, Chase and Mason. We're glad to see that Martsolf is as grounded in real life as he seems!

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Photo credits: Johnny Louis/WENN, The Really Useful Group, The CW, Judy Eddy/WENN.com