Jamie Dornan and his pregnant wife Amelia Warner in London last week.

As we told you last week, County Down native Jamie Dornan was the front-runner to be cast as the star of "Fifty Shades of Grey," and sure enough on Wednesday the good news was confirmed.  Dornan nabbed the plum role of Christian Grey, the sex-starved star of the "Fifty Shades" trilogy of “mommy porn” novels by EL James.

Dornan’s casting has been universally praised, and has launched the Northern Irish Calvin Klein model right onto the A list.

"Stow your twitchy palms ladies … our man is here. Welcome to #TeamFifty @JamieDornan1," James tweeted to her legion of female fans.
Where has the 31-year-old Dornan been all our lives? Besides bulging out of Calvin Klein undies, he also had a role on the ABC show "Once Upon a Time" playing a sheriff.  He’s no longer part of the series, though, as his character was killed off.

He’s got plenty of fans out there, among them Lena Dunham, creator and star of HBO’s "Girls."  She tweeted that she’s a “monstrous” Dornan fan, while Crystal Hefner, Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Bunny wife, is also pleased at the casting. "RT if you are excited for the '50 Shades of Grey' movie starring @JamieDornan1!" she tweeted.

Dornan, who describes himself as “born, bred and buttered in Holywood, County Down” on his Twitter account, has gained thousands of new followers since the news was revealed.  He seems to be a guy that everyone is rooting for.  The folks at E! Online are going crazy, posting gushing stories and hunky pics of Dornan from his modeling days.

“Christian Grey's naked body is drool-worthy. Oh, look at Jamie Dornan's body. And whaddaya know? We're drooling,” one (female) reporter fawned when compiling a list of 10 reasons why Dornan is the perfect Grey.

One Hollywood source told Us Weekly that Dornan “has a really good reputation as someone easy to work with, easy going and is seen as someone who will be very appreciative of this role.”

Dornan also has another big role to prepare for – fatherhood. His British actress wife Amelia Warner looks like she could pop at any time, as you can see from our picture of the couple in London last Saturday. They married in April of this year.

Dornan won’t have much time to celebrate the news as filming begins on December 1. "Fifty Shades of Grey" is due for release next August 1.