George Clooney:
George Clooney, an American actor and director, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on May 6, 1961. He became well-known as a leading man in the 1990s due to his attractiveness and adaptability. Later on, he rose to prominence as a filmmaker and screenwriter. For his supporting part in Syriana (2005), Clooney received an Academy Award.
George Clooney famously pledged never to get married again after his marriage to actress Talia Balsam (1989–1993), and his other partnerships frequently become tabloid favorites. However, he wed British-Lebanese lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014. In 2017, the couple welcomed twins, Ella and Alexander.
Despite coming from a show-business family—his aunt, Rosemary Clooney, was a famous singer and actress, and his father, Nick Clooney, was a broadcast journalist—Clooney’s first desire was to play baseball. At the age of 21, he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue acting after a failed tryout with the Cincinnati Reds. He started making appearances in sitcoms on television two years later.
The majority of his early TV work went completely undetected, despite the fact that he soon secured regular roles on well-known programs like Roseanne and The Facts of Life. When he was cast as Dr. Doug Ross on the medical drama ER in 1994, it was his big break.
After appearing in films such as Batman & Robin (1997), The Peacemaker (1997), and Out of Sight (1998), Clooney left ER in 1999 to focus on film. Later that year, he starred in the critically acclaimed Three Kings, a comedy-drama about U.S. soldiers at the Persian Gulf War’s conclusion.
George Clooney then worked with the Coen brothers on their quirky film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), which earned him a Golden Globe Award for his performance as an escaped convict.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001), his next big film, depicted a gang of con artists preparing a heist at a casino. Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon were among the movie’s stars. In Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007), Clooney played Danny Ocean once more.
In the interim between the Ocean films, George Clooney directed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), which was based on the life of TV host Chuck Barris, who claimed to be a CIA assassin.
For his portrayal of a disturbed CIA operative in Syriana (2005), a sophisticated thriller examining the oil industry and its effects on the world, George Clooney earned his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2006. Additionally, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director and Best Screenwriter for Good Night and Good Luck (2005), a black-and-white movie that depicted the confrontation between Senator Joseph McCarthy and journalist Edward R.
Murrow using actual newsreel material. George Clooney’s increasing engagement in liberal political activities was evident in both movies. He addressed the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur, Sudan, and fought to end world poverty.
George Clooney received widespread praise for his portrayal of a corporate lawyer who crossed moral lines in Michael Clayton (2007). He directed and featured in Leatherheads, a comedy about the early days of football set in the 1920s, the following year. He played a womanizing federal marshal in the CIA comedy Burn After Reading (2008), which brought him back together with the Coen brothers.
After that, George Clooney voiced the title character in the animated picture Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was based on Roald Dahl’s children’s novel, and played a mind-control-trained American soldier in the comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009).
He starred as an assassin on assignment in Italy in the thriller The American (2010) and as a consultant whose job it is to terminate individuals in Up in the Air (2009). In the dramatic political drama The Ides of March (2011), Clooney made a comeback behind the camera as a presidential contender navigating a harsh primary campaign.
George Clooney played an uncaring parent who is compelled to reconsider his life after his wife is hurt in a horrific accident in the 2011 seriocomic film The DescendantsFor the performance, he was awarded a Golden Globe. He and Sandra Bullock were astronauts in the 2013 science-fiction drama Gravity, which was about a botched space trip.
After that, Clooney co-wrote, directed, and starred in The Monuments Men (2014), a movie about the MFAA unit’s efforts to retrieve artwork that the Nazis had taken during World War II. His next role was in the fantasy adventure Tomorrowland (2015), which centers on a journey to a utopian future.
George Clooney played a kidnapped movie star in the Hollywood comedy Hail, Caesar! (2016), which brought the Coen brothers back together. Jodie Foster portrayed a financial expert who was kidnapped by a former client of his investment counsel in the 2016 film Money Monster.
The Coen brothers’ dark comedy Suburbicon, which takes place in an apparently ideal 1950s suburb where an insurance fraud plot goes out of hand, was directed and adapted by Clooney in 2017.
Then, in the 2019 TV miniseries Catch-22, which was based on Joseph Heller’s novel, he played Scheisskopf. Clooney acted as a scientist stationed in the Arctic in the post-apocalyptic science fiction film The Midnight Sky, which he directed in 2020. Based on J.R. Moehringer’s story about a bartender (played by Ben Affleck) and his little nephew, he directed The Tender Bar the next year.
Later, Clooney and Julia Roberts costarred in the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise (2022), which tells the story of a divorced couple attempting to prevent their daughter’s wedding. He and Brad Pitt reunited in the action-comedy Wolfs in 2024, playing rival fixers compelled to cooperate.
Clooney debuted on Broadway the following year as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck. In just one week, the stage version of the 2005 movie brought in $3.3 million, breaking the box office record for a non-musical play. For his performance, Clooney was nominated for a Tony Award as well. Later, he played a Hollywood star with an identity issue and neglected personal ties in Noah Baumbach’s J. Kelly (2025), in which Adam Sandler played a supporting role.
In addition, Clooney has produced a number of films and television shows, such as the Oscar-winning Argo (2012). He was honored with the Kennedy Center Honor in 2022 and the Cecil B. DeMille Award (Golden Globe Lifetime Achievement) in 2015 for his diverse career.