“Just immediate blackout, actually. Zero thoughts,” he tells the magazine in this week’s cover story. “Other than maybe I’m being punked. That’s not how I wake up, thinking, ‘Is this the day that I’ll be asked to be Sexiest Man Alive?’ And yet it was the day you guys did it. You’ve really raised the bar for me.”

While fans might know Krasinski as a crush-worthy, prank-loving paper salesman, an intense former Marine turned CIA agent, or a devoted family man sacrificing himself for love, the actor, 45, prefers just being a husband and father, who binges Netflix documentaries and relishes bedtime stories with his kids.

Now living in Brooklyn with his wife of 14 years, actress Emily Blunt, 41, and their daughters Hazel, 10, and Violet, 8, Krasinski says Blunt was “very excited” when she heard the big news: “There was a lot of joy involved in me telling her.”

The actress has even joked that she would wallpaper their house with the cover if her husband received the crown. “Do we have that on camera? Because that’s like a binding contract, I think,” he says. “My children will love that; it won’t be weird at all.”

Beloved for his nine-year run as Jim Halpert on the hit series The Office, Krasinski cowrote, directed, and starred alongside Blunt in the 2018 thriller A Quiet Place. Its massive success spawned two sequels, while Krasinski, who got ripped for Michael Bay’s 13 Hours, stayed in fighting shape to play the titular Jack Ryan for four seasons on the popular Prime Video series, now set to become a film.

This year, the honor went to Michael B. Jordan, 33, the celebrated movie star known for films such as ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Creed.’

Mr Jordan was revealed as this year’s honoree on Tuesday’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

This year marks the 35th Anniversary of the Magazine’s annual ode to male beefcakes.

Speaking to People about receiving the honor, Mr Jordan joked that there are women in his family who “are definitely proud of this one. When my grandmother was alive, it was something that she collected, and then my mum naturally reads it a lot and my aunts as well.”

“This is one that they’re definitely going to have a special place for,” he said.

Last year’s honoree was singer John Legend and Idris Elba held the title the year prior.