Malin Åkerman has watched plenty of laid-back losers try to impress her with their cool. Smart women like her prefer a spark of curiosity. “It’s like you have a zest for life,” she says. “You’re curious about people, things, the world. And that to me shows an open mind, someone you might want to explore the world alongside.”

Åkerman plays Laurie Juspeczyk, a.k.a. Silk Spectre II, a hot-yet-very-human crime fighter in latex who kicks ass while trying to save the world, in Watchmen. Her character may be torn between quasihuman superhero Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and the brilliant, kind Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), but in reality, this model-turned-actress has found her mate. How’d he win her over? He listened—likely in addition to everything else on Åkerman’s list of the keys to romantic success. Follow them for any chance of wooing a woman like her for yourself.

Try not to look at Malin Åkerman. (Hey, you did it again.) The trick with Åkerman is listening, not looking. Every guy looks, and every guy has a rap. But it was a man who spoke very little English who wooed her, won her, and married her. Because, she says, he listened.

Malin (pronounced MAH-lin) spoke three languages, none of them Italian, when she met Roberto, her Italian husband. Their first real conversations were spent huddled over an Italian-English dictionary. “It became very intimate, even though we weren’t talking about anything intimate,” she recalls. “It was very to the point and honest.”

Åkerman was born in Sweden but grew up in Canada. She attended French immersion school, took years of dance and figure skating, and did some childhood acting. At 16, she was plucked by a modeling scout from a crowd of teens at a local mall watching a Ford Supermodel contest.

Modeling led to Hollywood and increasingly juicy comedic parts: in Lisa Kudrow’s HBO show The Comeback; in the threesome episodes of Entourage; as Ben Stiller’s hot-yet-nightmarish bride in the Farrelly brothers’ The Heart-break Kid; and as Katherine Heigl’s hot-yet-conniving sister in 27 Dresses.

Her career will go global with Watchmen, a film that’s double-stuffed with expectations from both the geeked-out devotees of the classic graphic novel and the pumped-up fans of director Zack Snyder, who made the worldwide hit 300.

Åkerman plays Laurie Juspeczyk, a.k.a. Silk Spectre II, a hot-yet-very-human crime fighter in latex who kicks ass while trying to save the world. All the while she’s torn between quasihuman superhero Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and the brilliant, kind Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), who’s just the sort of good listener she likes.

Åkerman’s 5 Keys to Romantic Bliss

Be Inquisitive
Åkerman has watched plenty of laid-back losers try to impress her with their cool. Smart women prefer a spark of curiosity. “It’s like you have a zest for life,” she says. “You’re curious about people, things, the world. And that to me shows an open mind, someone you might want to explore the world alongside.”

Be Patient
“If you think a girl looks beautiful, tell her,” she says. “She will see that you’re being real. Do not, however, follow up right away with, ‘Can I buy you a drink?’ Let your comment be the opener, and if it turns into a conversation, then ask to buy her a drink.”

Act Naturally
through in films with a winning, wacky vivacity that seemed utterly natural. “To do comedy,” she says, “you can’t have hindrances—you just have to be free.” Men can learn from that. “Charm comes from being yourself. And if you’re goofy, then that’s just who you are, and you’ll find your match with someone who is like that, too.”

Speak Up
Real-life bedroom scenes aren’t like the ones in the movies. “Of course women get nervous, just as men do,” she says. “The best way to calm those nerves is to be vocal. Ask questions every step of the way. The goal is to please each other, and you can’t do that if you don’t know what your partner likes, right?”

Don’t Push
Åkerman has worked as a bartender and a singer (that’s where she met her husband, a drummer). She tried to be polite to the predictable parade of men. But that just didn’t work with one tipsy guy who refused to listen when she said, repeatedly, that she had a boyfriend. “He said, ‘Yeah, but does your boyfriend have a Ferrari?’ I looked at him and said, ‘What do you want me to do, f— your car?’”

Source: Men’s Health