George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney[2] (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for his work in both blockbuster and independent films, he has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award and four Golden Globe Awards. His honors include the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Honorary César, the AFI Life Achievement Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor.[3][4]
George Clooney
- Actor
- film director
- producer
- screenwriter
1978–present
2
- Nick Clooney (father)
- Rosemary Clooney (aunt)
- Miguel Ferrer (cousin)
- Betty Clooney (aunt)
- Tessa Ferrer (cousin, once removed)
Clooney started acting in television in the late 1970s, and later gained wide recognition in his role as Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama ER (1994–1999), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He expanded to leading roles in films, with his breakthrough role in From Dusk till Dawn (1996)[5][6] followed by Batman & Robin (1997), Out of Sight (1998), Three Kings (1999), The Perfect Storm (2000) and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Greater stardom came from his starring role in Soderbergh's Ocean's film series from 2001 to 2007. Clooney won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the thriller Syriana (2005), and earned Best Actor nominations for the legal thriller Michael Clayton (2007), and the comedy-dramas Up in the Air (2009) and The Descendants (2011). He has also starred in Burn After Reading (2008), The American (2010), Gravity (2013), Hail, Caesar! (2016) and Ticket to Paradise (2022).
Clooney made his directorial debut with the spy drama Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), and has since directed the historical drama Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), the political drama The Ides of March (2011), the war film The Monuments Men (2014), the science fiction film The Midnight Sky (2020) and the biographical sports drama The Boys in the Boat (2023). He received the Academy Award for Best Picture for co-producing the political thriller Argo (2012). As of 2023, he is one of four people to have been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories (a distinction shared with Walt Disney, Alfonso Cuarón and Kenneth Branagh).[7][8]
Clooney was included on Time's annual Time 100 list, which identifies the most influential people in the world, every year from 2006 to 2009.[9] He is also noted for his political and economic activism, and has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since 2008.[10][11][12] Clooney is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[13] He is married to human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.
Early life
Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky.[14][15] His mother, Nina Bruce (née Warren),[16] was a beauty queen and city councilwoman. His father, Nick Clooney, is a former anchorman and television host, including five years on the AMC network.[17] Clooney is of Irish, German, and English ancestry.[18] His maternal fourth great-grandmother, Mary Ann Sparrow, was the half-sister of Nancy Lincoln, mother of President Abraham Lincoln, making Clooney and President Lincoln half-first cousins five times removed.[19][20][21] Clooney has an older sister named Adelia (known as Ada).[22] Cabaret singer and actress Rosemary Clooney was an aunt.[14] Through Rosemary, his cousins include actors Miguel Ferrer, Rafael Ferrer, and Gabriel Ferrer, who is married to singer Debby Boone.[23]
Clooney was raised a strict Roman Catholic[24] but said in 1998 that he did not know if he believed "in Heaven or even God."[25] He has said, "Yes, we were Catholic, big-time, whole family, whole group."[26] He began his education at the Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. He attended St. Michael's School in Worthington, Ohio; then Western Row Elementary School (a public school) in Mason, Ohio, from 1968 to 1974; and St. Susanna School in Mason, where he served as an altar boy. The Clooneys moved back to Kentucky when George was midway through the seventh grade.[27] In middle school, Clooney developed Bell's palsy, a medical condition that partially paralyzes the face. The malady went away within a year. In an interview with Larry King, he stated that "yes, it goes away. It takes about nine months to go away. It was the first year of high school, which was a bad time for having half your face paralyzed."[26] He also described one positive outcome of the condition: "It's probably a great thing that it happened to me because it forced me to engage in a series of making fun of myself. And I think that's an important part of being famous. The practical jokes have to be aimed at you."[28]
After his parents moved to Augusta, Kentucky, Clooney attended Augusta High School. He has stated that he earned all As and a B in school,[14] and played baseball and basketball. He tried out to play professional baseball with the Cincinnati Reds in 1977, but he did not pass the first round of player cuts and was not offered a contract.[29] He attended Northern Kentucky University from 1979 to 1981, majoring in broadcast journalism, and very briefly attended the University of Cincinnati, but did not graduate from either.[30] He earned money selling women's shoes, selling insurance door to door, stocking shelves, working in construction, and cutting tobacco.[25][31]
Activism and public advocacy
Political views
Clooney supported both of Barack Obama's 2008[90] and 2012 presidential campaigns.[91] Clooney endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential election.[92] Clooney endorsed Joe Biden for the 2020 presidential election,[93] and he hosted a virtual fundraiser for Biden together with Obama on July 28, 2020.[94]
He has also made humorous statements against Republican Party figures. In 2006, Clooney sarcastically thanked Jack Abramoff at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards before concluding with "Who would name their kid 'Jack' with 'off' at the end? No wonder the guy's screwed up".[95] Clooney has also described Republican donor Steve Wynn as an "asshole" and a "jackass", after the two had a heated disagreement over the Affordable Care Act.[96]
In the media
Clooney has appeared in commercials outside the U.S. for Fiat, Nespresso, Martini vermouth, Omega, Warburtons and DNB ASA Eiendom (a Norwegian bank and real estate agency).[176][177][178][179][180][181] Clooney was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2007, 2008 and 2009.[182][183][184] He is sometimes described as one of the most handsome men in the world.[185][186] In 2005, TV Guide ranked Clooney No. 1 on its "50 Sexiest Stars of All Time" list.[187] The cover story in a February 2008 issue of Time was headlined with: "George Clooney: The Last Movie Star".[188]
He was parodied in the South Park episode "Smug Alert!", which criticizes his acceptance speech at the 78th Academy Awards. Clooney has also lent his voice to South Park as Sparky the Dog in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" and as the emergency room doctor in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Clooney was caricatured in the American Dad! episode "Tears of a Clooney", in which Francine Smith plans to destroy him.[189]
Director Alexander Cartio made his debut feature film, Convincing Clooney, about a Los Angeles artist who, faced with rejection as an actor and screenwriter, concocts a master plan to get Clooney to star in his first-ever low-budget short film. The movie was released on DVD in November 2011.[190]