Whether playing an inscrutable 1930s butler plotting revenge in Robert Altman's 2001 Gosford Park, a detective gradually going blind in the British television series Second Sight, or a writer slowly seduced by the seedy but intoxicating world of a London casino in Croupier, Owen specializes in characters who are enigmas wrapped in ex appeal. His ability to carry a scene and his air of supreme competence -- he looks like the sort of person who could defuse a nuclear bomb, locate the best restaurant in Kazakhstan, or fix your problem sink -- have provoked comparison to figures like Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, and Paul Newman (everyone "except possibly Gwyneth Paltrow," he once joked).

Trying to define his appeal, Natalie Portman, his costar in the forthcoming Closer, says it has to do with a self-possession that, thankfully, never slips into preening obnoxiousness. "He has a confidence that comes through in his roles," she says. "He's a very elegant man. I think he could pretty much do anything you could put in front of him."

Growing up in a working-class family in Coventry, England, Owen -- sandwiched between three older brothers and a younger half brother -- shocked his family with his chosen profession. "They can't quite believe it really," he says. "I used to stand up and say, 'I want to be an actor.' And they'd all laugh. But an early turn as Artful Dodger in a school production of Oliver! convinced Owen that he was on the right track, and after dropping out of high school ("I flunked everything," he says happily), he joined a local youth theater. He was accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy of the Dramatic Art on the strength of two three-minute monologues.

Since then Owen has been working steadily -- and most successfully in smaller, UK-based TV and movie projects and on the London stage (he met his wife, actress Sarah-Jane Fenton, while playing Romeo to her Juliet 14 years ago). But his first Hollywood effort, 2003's Beyond Borders with Angelina Jolie, did not strike box office gold -- although he sure looked dishy as a doctor. This summer, in addition to the indie thriller I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, he hits Hollywood again, playing the leading role in King Arthur, which director Antoine Fuqua recast as a big budget action-adventure; Owen spends much of his time on horseback, swathed fetchingly in chain mail and wielding a sword.

Those who prefer him in a contemporary setting can catch Owen in December's Closer, directed by Mike Nichols and based on the Patrick Marber play about two couples (Julia Roberts and Jude Law alongside Owen and Portman) falling in and out of love, lust and hate.

"He's got real internal strength," says King Arthur producer Jerry Bruckheimer. "You can see it through his eyes and in his face and his movements. He gives you a real sense of dignity. And he's very handsome."

With such testimonials, it's easy to understand the constant speculation about Owen's playing another leading man: James Bond. Owen laughs when this is put to him. Nobody has ever approached him about the part, and as far as he knows, Pierce Brosnan has not declared himself unavailable. "I learned a long time ago just to deal with facts," Owen says. "I'm not going to waste my time dealing with rumor."

He also resists being drawn too deeply into the Hollywood scene. "I feel very fortunate and objective, and I know what I'm doing," he says of the relatively late upturn of his career. "All that hyperbole -- it fluctuates, and it would be a very dangerous thing to have that happen in your twenties. I want to keep working, I want to be around for a while."

Thanks to Jannie