Survey Ranks the Sexiest, Most-Iconic On-Screen Dads for Father’s Day

In honor of Father's day, Likewise, the app which generates movie, book, and TV show recommendations based upon your personal preferences, surveyed its six million American users to determine the hottest on-screen dads.

The results were broken down into three categories: Top Five Sexiest On-Screen Dads; Top Five Most Iconic On-Screen Dads; and Sexiest On-Screen Dads by Generation. There were also respective honorable mentions categories for sexy and iconic dads.

In something of a surprise upset, Twilight’s Charlie Swan took first place for Sexiest On-Screen Dad. Billy Burke portrayed the character across five films, the last of which saw release in 2012. But despite that long respite from public life (and not doing much of anything in those movies), Charlie is still considered amongst film buffs to be the sexiest father of all time.

Pedro Pascal scored second place for his portrayal of protective father-figure Joel Miller on HBO’s The Last of Us. In another blast from the past, Dennis Quaid’s character from 1998’s The Parent Trap took third place. Quaid famously played Nick Parker, father to twin Lindsay Lohans, in the classic comedy. Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) of This Is Us and John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) of Supernatural rounded out the Sexiest ranking.

Modern Family’s Phil Dunphey (played by Ty Burrell) took the top Iconic spot. Bob Saget’s wisdom-espousing Full House “daddio,” Danny Tanner, took second place. Homer Simpson took third, while shock choices Bandit (Dave McCormack), of Bluey, and Gru (Steve Carell), of the Despicable Me franchise, closed out the ranking.

Saget did pretty well in the overall rankings, as Danny Tanner also turned up in the Sexiest rank’s honorable mentions. Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch in the 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird was the top choice in four states (including Mockingbird's home state of Alabama) thanks to Boomers. Overall, he was that generation's top pick. They clearly preferred Peck’s demure, wise fatherly turn to his sweaty, homicidal one 14 years later in The Omen.

But in general, Boomers made some eclectic choices. Homicidal, hard-drinking Jack Torrance, famously played by Jack Nicholson in The Shining, came in behind Finch at number two. Boomers in Oregon were also fond of James Brolin's similar performance in The Amityville Horror.

Iconic dads who received an honorable mention included presumptive shoo-ins Al Bundy (played by Ed O’Neill on Married…with Children); Bob Belcher (played by H. Jon Benjamin on Bob’s Burgers); and Johnny Rose (played by Eugene Levy on Schitt’s Creek).

"We know how deeply people connect with their favorite film and TV dads," Likewise told Men's Journal, "and this Father's Day we wanted to find out which on-screen dads resonate most with our users. With 600 million data points, we can confidently say these are the dads that resonated the most!"

You can check out Likewise’s full rankings (including a generational breakdown) below.