SAN FRANCISCO:

Readers of the men’s lifestyle website Ask-Men.com have voted actress Katherine Heigl this year’s most desirable woman to have as a girlfriend or wife.

Heigl, a star of US television series Grey’s Anatomy whose film credits include Knocked Up and 27 Dresses, topped AskMen’s eighth annual list of The 99 Most Desirable Women. More than five million votes were cast at the website during a six-week poll asking which women in the worlds of fashion, music, or entertainment most embody the qualities of an ideal girlfriend or wife.

Victoria’s Secret lingerie model Alessandra Ambrosio was the second top choice while actress Kate Beckinsale was voted into third place. AskMen says it urged voters to look beyond beauty to qualities such as humor, intelligence, ambition and charisma desired in a companion.

“There is at least one woman on the list that each of our eight million readers would find as their perfect companion.” The top 10 pa-rtner picks at AskMen incl-ude actresses Eva Mendes, Jessica Alba, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel as well as singer Rihanna and supermodels Marisa Miller and Adriana Lima.