What does “galán de novelas” mean in Spanish?

A galán de novelas is literally “the leading man of a soap opera,” but the term has long since escaped the TV studio. In Latin American Spanish, calling someone a galán signals he’s handsome, well-dressed, and the type to grace the alfombra roja (red carpet). When this trailer lists galanes de novelas alongside empresarios, príncipes y reyes, it’s casting entertainment celebrities as a kind of modern royalty.

The noun comes from old courtly Spanish for “suitor.” Argentine and broader Latin American gossip media still use it to mark a man as a romantic public figure. The closest English equivalents (heartthrob, leading man) lose part of the meaning.