George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an
American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. Clooney
has balanced his performances in big-budget
blockbusters with work as a producer and
director behind commercially riskier projects, as well as social
and liberal political activism. On January 31, 2008, the
United Nations named Clooney a "
Messenger of
Peace."
Early life
Clooney
was born in Lexington,
Kentucky
. His mother, Nina Bruce (née Warren), was a
former pageant queen; his father,
Nick, is a journalist, anchorman, game show, and
American Movie Classics
host, and an aspiring politician from the state of Kentucky
.
Clooney was raised in an
Irish
Catholic family. He has an older sister, Adelia (also known as
Ada), and his cousins include actors
Miguel and
Rafael
Ferrer, who are the sons of his aunt, singer
Rosemary Clooney, and actor
José Ferrer. He is also related to another
singer,
Debby Boone, who married José
and Rosemary's son, Gabriel Ferrer. From an early age, Clooney
would hang around his father's sets, often participating in shows,
where he proved to be a crowd favorite.
Clooney
began his education at the Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell,
Kentucky
. Spending part of his childhood in Ohio
, he attended
St. Michael's School in Columbus
, St. Susanna
School in Mason
,
Ohio. In middle school, Clooney developed
Bell's palsy, a debilitating condition that
partially paralyzes the face. The malady went away within a year.
"That was the worst time of my life," he told the
Mirror
in 2003. "You know how cruel kids can be. I was mocked and taunted,
but the experience made me stronger."
His
parents eventually moved to Augusta
, Kentucky,
where Clooney attended Augusta High School.
He has stated that he earned all As and a B in school, and was an
enthusiastic baseball and basketball player. He had considered a
career in Law at this time, but later retracted. He tried out with
the
Cincinnati Reds in 1977 to play
professional baseball, but was not offered a contract. He did not
pass the first round of player cuts.
He attended Northern
Kentucky University
from 1979 to 1981 and, very briefly, the University of
Cincinnati
, but did not graduate from either. He had
such odd jobs as selling mens' suits and cutting
tobacco.
Career
Early roles
His first major role came in 1984 in the sitcom
E/R (not be confused with
ER, which was a decade later). He played
a handyman on the series
The Facts of Life. He
played Bobby the detective on one episode of
The Golden Girls. His first
significant break was a semi-regular supporting role in the sitcom
Roseanne, playing
Roseanne Barr's overbearing boss
Booker Brooks, followed by the role of a construction worker on
Baby Talk and then as a sexy
detective on
Sisters.
In 1988, Clooney also played a role in
Return of the Killer
Tomatoes.
Initial success
Clooney achieved stardom when he was selected to play Dr.
Doug Ross, opposite
Anthony Edwards's and
Noah Wyle's character on the hit NBC drama
ER from 1994 to 1999 and
returned for a guest spot in the show's 15th and final season.
Clooney was also partnered with Deborah Leoni in their production
company Mirador Entertainment.
Clooney began in movies while appearing in
ER, his first
major Hollywood role being
From
Dusk till Dawn, directed by
Robert Rodriguez.
He followed its
success with One Fine Day with
Michelle Pfeiffer and The Peacemaker with Nicole Kidman, the latter being the initial
feature length release from Dreamworks SKG
studio. Clooney was then cast as the new
Batman (succeeding
Val
Kilmer, who in turn, had succeeded
Michael Keaton) in
Batman & Robin, which was
a moderate box office success, but a critical failure (with Clooney
himself calling the film "a waste of money"). In 1998, he starred
in
Out of Sight, opposite
Jennifer Lopez. This was the first of
many collaborations with director
Steven Soderbergh. He also starred in
Three Kings during the
last weeks of his contract with
ER.
In 1999, Clooney left the cast of
ER to pursue his film
career, returning only for two cameo appearances in the 6th and
again in its 15th and final season.
Movie career
After
leaving ER, Clooney starred in major Hollywood
successes, such as The Perfect Storm and
O Brother, Where Art
Thou?. In 2001, he teamed up with Soderbergh again
for
Ocean's
Eleven, a
remake of the 1960s
Rat Pack film
of the same name. To this day, it
remains Clooney's most commercially successful movie, earning more
than $444 million worldwide. The film spawned two sequels starring
Clooney,
Ocean's Twelve in
2004 and
Ocean's Thirteen
in 2007. In 2001, Clooney founded the production studio Section
Eight with Steven Soderbergh. Clooney is generally considered
Chief Actor.
He made his directorial debut in the 2002 film
Confessions of a Dangerous
Mind, an adaptation of the autobiography of TV producer
Chuck Barris. Though the movie didn't
do well at the box office, Clooney's direction was praised among
critics and audiences alike.
In 2005, Clooney starred in
Syriana, which was based loosely on former
Central Intelligence
Agency agent
Robert Baer and his
memoirs of being an agent in the
Middle
East. The same year he directed, produced, and starred in
Good Night, and Good
Luck., a film about 1950s television journalist
Edward R. Murrow's famous war of words with Senator
Joseph McCarthy. Both films received
critical acclaim and decent box-office returns despite being in
limited release. At the 2006 Academy Awards, Clooney was nominated
for
Best Director and
Best
Original Screenplay for
Good Night, and Good Luck, as
well as
Best
Supporting Actor for
Syriana. He became the first
person in Oscar history to be nominated for directing one movie and
acting in another in the same year. He would go on to win for his
role in
Syriana.
Clooney appeared in
The Good
German, a
film-noir directed by
Soderbergh. The film is set in post-
World
War II Germany.
Clooney also received the
American Cinematheque Award in
October 2006, an award that honors an artist in the entertainment
industry who has made "a significant contribution to the art of
motion pictures". On January 22, 2008, Clooney was nominated for
Best Actor for his role in
Michael Clayton, but lost to
Daniel Day-Lewis for
There Will Be Blood.
After the success of
Good Night, and Good Luck, Clooney
said he planned to devote more of his energy to directing. He said
that the directing industry is "a great industry to grow old in."
Clooney directed the film
Leatherheads, in which he also stars.
Clooney is self-deprecating in interviews, telling
STV in April 2008 that
Leatherheads, one of his
lightest movies, is a "cry for peace." In the same interview, when
asked about reconciling George Clooney the actor and George Clooney
the director, he said "there's a lot of ego there... so I just take
it out on the actors."
Clooney next co-starred with
Ewan
McGregor and
Kevin Spacey in
The Men Who Stare
At Goats, which was directed by his friend
Grant Heslov and released in November 2009.
Also in 2009, Clooney will star in
Up
in the Air, set for a December release. It was directed by
Juno helmer
Jason Reitman.
Clooney is represented by
Bryan Lourd,
Co-Chairman of
Creative Artists
Agency (CAA).
Other ventures
South Park creators
Matt Stone and
Trey
Parker, invited Clooney to play a role in the show as the voice
of
Stan Marsh's gay dog Sparky in the
episode "
Big Gay Al's Big
Gay Boat Ride", a role with no dialogue except normal dog
noises. He later appeared in the film
South Park: Bigger,
Longer & Uncut. Despite their history, the show's
creators, Parker and Stone, lampooned Clooney for his outspoken
political views in their feature film
Team America: World Police.
However, Clooney later said that he would have been offended if he
hadn't been made fun of in the film. He was also mentioned
in the episode "
Smug Alert!", which
mocks his acceptance speech at the
78th Academy Awards.
On July 8, 2005, news reports said that Clooney would be working
with
Cindy Crawford's husband
Rande Gerber to design and build a new
casino hotel in Las Vegas. On August 29, the same year, Clooney
officially announced his involvement with the
Las Ramblas Resort project. However, the
project never came to fruition, and the property on which the
resort was to be built was sold in June 2006.
After
serving as pitchman outside the US for products like Fiat
, Nespresso and Martini
vermouth, Clooney lent his voice to a series of Budweiser ads beginning in 2005
(which were still running as of September 2007). In
September 2007, Clooney defended his work when asked by an Italian
journalist, Alex Meenehan, how he reconciled advertising
multinational companies' products with the purpose of Michael
Clayton, the film he was currently introducing in the Venice Films
Festival.
In August 2006, Clooney and Grant Heslov started a new company:
Smokehouse Pictures. Heslov was the president of
television at
Section Eight
Productions, Clooney and director
Steven Soderbergh's production company.
Clooney is creating and producing a television series for
Showtime titled
The Fall of Bob. It is a
half-hour, single-camera black comedy-drama about a man who is
committing suicide while a lengthy flashback occurs of what
happened before his death.
Clooney is one of only two people to have been given the title of
"
Sexiest Man Alive" twice by
People Magazine, first in
1997 and again in 2006.
In July 2008, Clooney was declared the worst Batman portrayed
onscreen. "Batman should be obsessed and blindered […] but Clooney
is all cool, ironic detachment and self-awareness." No comment has
been heard from the actor. However, he has publicly criticized his
own portrayal of Batman several times.
Personal life
Girlfriends and marriage
Clooney has been married once, to
Talia
Balsam (1989–93). He had a five-year on/off relationship with
British model
Lisa Snowdon. Later on,
his girlfriend was
Sarah Larson; at
that time, Clooney said that he would never marry.
In early 2009, an
Indian newspaper speculated that Clooney was secretly dating
Fatima Bhutto, the granddaughter of
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan
Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto and also the niece of slain former Pakistani premier
Benazir Bhutto. Later in 2009,
Clooney began dating
Elisabetta
Canalis.
2007 motorcycle accident
On
September 21, 2007, Clooney and girlfriend Sarah Larson were injured in a motorcycle
accident in Weehawken
, New Jersey. Clooney's motorcycle was hit by
a car. The driver of the car reported that Clooney attempted to
pass on the right, while Clooney stated that the driver signaled
left and then decided to make an abrupt right turn and clipped the
motorcycle. Clooney suffered a broken rib,
road rash, and brain injury with complications
resulting from a punctured
dura.
He was
treated and released from the Palisades Medical Center
in North Bergen
, New Jersey. On October 9, 2007, more than
two dozen hospital staff members were suspended without pay for
looking at Clooney's medical records in violation of federal law.
Clooney himself quickly issued a statement on the hospital records
matter, saying no one should be punished. He said "This is the
first I've heard of it. And while I very much believe in a
patient's
right to privacy, I would
hope that this could be settled without suspending medical
workers."
Pets
Clooney had a 280-pound Vietnamese black-bristled
pot-bellied pig, named
Max, that had lived with him for eighteen years.
He initially gave him as a gift to former live-in girlfriend
Kelly Preston but she let him keep Max
after their break-up. Max died on December 1, 2006. He also had two
bulldogs, named Bud and Lou, after the famous comedy team
Abbott and Costello. Both of the dogs
have since died, one from a
rattlesnake
bite.
Leatherheads controversy
It was reported on April 4, 2008 in
Variety that Clooney had quietly
resigned from the
Writers Guild
of America over controversy surrounding
Leatherheads.
Clooney, who is the director, producer, and star of the film,
stated that he had contributed in writing, "all but two scenes," of
the film and requested a writing credit, alongside Duncan Brantley
and
Rick Reilly, who had been working on
the project for 17 years. In an arbitration vote, Clooney lost 2–1
and ultimately decided to withdraw from the union over the
decision. Clooney is now technically a "financial core status"
nonmember, meaning he loses his voting rights, and cannot run for
office or attend membership meetings, according to the WGA's
constitution. He must continue to pay his dues, but gets a break on
"non-germane" WGA activities, such as political and lobbying
efforts. His decision is also irrevocable. Beforehand, Clooney was
an active member of the WGA, even receiving an
Academy Award-nomination for writing
Good
Night and Good Luck. He is currently writing two screenplays
with Grant Heslov.
Charlton Heston controversy
Michelle Solomon wrote in her article Celebrity Chatter: Up-Close
With George Clooney, published in Staff Writer (2/3/03) "On the
same day we spoke, headlines had just broke that Clooney was at a
dinner for film awards and made what some people perceived as an
inappropriate remark about
Charlton
Heston. As first reported by syndicated columnist Liz Smith,
Clooney was speaking at a National Board of Review event and said:
"Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from
Alzheimer's." Recounting this, Clooney said, "It was a joke,...
They got the quote wrong. What I said was 'The head of the NRA
announced today ...' (Filmmaker) Michael Moore had just gotten an
award. Anyway, Charlton Heston shows up with guns over his head
after a school shooting and then says in the documentary it's
because of ethnic diversity that we have problems with violence in
America. I think he's going to have to take whatever hits he gets.
It was just a joke. That was someone else trying to make a bigger
story." When asked if the actor went too far with his remarks,
Clooney responded by saying, "I don't care.
Charlton Heston is
the head of the National Rifle Association
; he deserves whatever anyone says about
him."
Heston himself commented, "It just goes to show that sometimes
class does skip a generation," referring to Clooney's late aunt,
Rosemary Clooney. Heston further
commented on the Clooney joke: "I don't know the man—never met him,
never even spoken to him, but I feel sorry for George Clooney—one
day he may get Alzheimer's disease. I served my country in World
War II. I survived that—I guess I can survive some bad words from
this fellow". Clooney said he subsequently apologized to Heston in
a letter, and that he received a positive response from Heston's
wife.
Politics and advocacy
Clooney is a self-described political
liberal. Speaking about the
Iraq war: "You can't beat your enemy
anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of
people seeking revenge. These days it only matters who's in charge.
Right now that's us—for a while at least. Our opponents are going
to resort to car bombs and
suicide
attacks because they have no other way to win.... I believe
(
Rumsfeld) thinks this is a war that
can be won, but there is no such thing anymore. We can't beat
anyone anymore."
Clooney is noted for his public criticisms of lobbyist
Jack Abramoff. On January 16, 2006, during his
acceptance speech for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance
by an Actor in a Supporting Role for
Syriana, Clooney
paused to sarcastically thank Abramoff before adding, "Who would
name their kid Jack with the word ‘off’ at the end of your last
name? No wonder that guy is screwed up!"
There has
been movement to try to convince Clooney to run for political
office in his home state of Kentucky, including talk of a Clooney candidacy for US Senate against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2008. In response,
Clooney has said: "Run for office? No. I've slept with too many
women, I've done too many drugs, and I've been to too many
parties." Clooney supported President
Barack Obama during Obama's campaign run in the
2008
presidential election.
Save Darfur
Clooney is named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People
in the World for "using star power to illuminate the crisis in
Darfur." After making his first trip to Darfur in 2006, Clooney
made the TV special A Journey to Darfur with his father Nick, and
advocated for action in the US. Author Ishmael Beah writes: "He has
used his fame to speak wholeheartedly for those who cannot speak,
with genuine concern and insight and a deep commitment and
selflessness that is rare but does not have to be."
Clooney is active in advocating a resolution of the
Darfur conflict. His efforts include an
episode of
Oprah and speaking at the
Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C.,
on April 30, 2006.
In 2006, he was involved in several events to highlight the issue.
In April, he spent ten days in Chad and Sudan with his father to
make a film in order to show the dramatic situation of Darfur's
refugees. In September, he spoke in front of the Security Council
of the UN with Nobel Prize-winner
Elie
Wiesel to ask the UN to find a solution to the conflict and to
help the people of Darfur. In December, he made a trip to China and
Egypt with
Don Cheadle and two Olympic
winners to ask both governments to pressure Sudan's
government.
In 2006, Clooney and his father, journalist Nick Clooney, travelled
to Darfur and filmed a documentary,
A Journey to Darfur,
which was broadcast on American cable TV as well as in the UK and
France. In 2008, it was released on DVD with the proceeds from its
sale being donated to the
International Rescue
Committee.
Clooney is involved with
Not On Our
Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and
resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities, along with
Brad Pitt,
Matt Damon,
Don Cheadle, and
Jerry Weintraub. He narrated and was
co-executor producer of the documentary
Sand and Sorrow.
On March 25, 2007, he sent an open letter to German chancellor
Angela Merkel, calling on the European
Union to take "decisive action" in the region in the face of
Omar al-Bashir's failure to respond
to the UN resolutions. Clooney appeared in the documentary film
Darfur Now, a call to action
film for people all over the world to help stop the ongoing crisis
in Darfur. The film was released on November 2, 2007.
On December 13, 2007, Clooney and fellow actor
Don Cheadle were presented with the Summit Peace
Award by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome. In his acceptance
speech Clooney said that he and Cheadle "Don and I…stand here
before you as failures. The simple truth is that when it comes to
the atrocities in Darfur…those people are not better off now than
they were years ago."
On January 18, 2008, the United Nations announced Clooney's
appointment as a United Nations messenger of peace, effective from
January 31. In February 2009, he visited Goz Beida, Chad with NY
Times columnist Nicholas Kristof.
Filmography
Actor
| Year |
Film |
Role |
Notes |
| 1984–85 |
E/R |
Mark "Ace" Kolmar |
|
| 1985 |
Streethawk |
Kevin Stark |
|
| 1985–86 |
The Facts of
Life |
George Burnett |
|
| 1987 |
Return to Horror
High |
Oliver |
|
| Grizzly II: The
Predator |
|
Uncredited |
| Combat Academy |
Maj. Biff Woods |
|
| Murder, She
Wrote |
Kip Howard |
Episode: "No Laughing Murder" |
| The Golden Girls |
Detective Bobby Hopkins |
Episode: "To Catch a Neighbor" |
| 1988 |
Return of the
Killer Tomatoes |
Matt Stevens |
|
| 1988–91 |
Roseanne |
Booker Brooks |
11 episodes |
| 1989 |
Red Surf |
Remar |
|
| 1992 |
Unbecoming Age |
Mac |
|
| 1993 |
The Harvest |
Lip Synching Transvestite |
|
| 1993–94 |
Sisters |
Detective James Falconer |
|
| 1994–99 |
ER |
Dr. Doug Ross |
106 episodes
Nominated — Primetime
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series, 1995,
1996
Nominated —
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama,
1995, 1996, 1997 |
| 1995 |
Friends |
Dr. Michael Mitchell |
Episode: "The One
with Two Parts, Part Two" |
| 1996 |
From Dusk till
Dawn |
Seth Gecko |
MTV Movie
Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Saturn Award for Best
Actor |
| One Fine Day |
Jack Taylor |
|
| Curdled |
Seth Gecko |
Uncredited; only photo shown |
| 1997 |
Full-Tilt Boogie |
Himself |
Documentary |
| The
Peacemaker |
Thomas Devoe |
|
| Batman &
Robin |
Bruce Wayne/Batman |
|
| South Park |
Sparky the Dog |
Voice only; episode: "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat
Ride" |
| 1998 |
The Thin Red
Line |
Captain Bosche |
|
| Out of Sight |
Jack Foley |
|
| Waiting for Woody |
Himself |
Comedic short |
| 1999 |
Three Kings |
Major Archie Gates |
|
| The Book That Wrote
Itself |
Himself |
|
| South
Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut |
Doctor Gouache |
Voice only |
| The Limey |
|
Archive footage, uncredited |
| 2000 |
The Perfect
Storm |
Billy 'Skip' Tyne |
|
| Fail Safe |
Col. Jack Grady |
|
| O Brother, Where Art
Thou? |
Ulysses Everett McGill |
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or
Comedy
Nominated — Empire Award for
Best Actor
Nominated —
Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or
Comedy |
| 2001 |
Ocean's
Eleven |
Danny Ocean |
Nominated — MTV
Movie Award for Best Dressed
Nominated — Phoenix Film
Critics Society Award for Best Cast |
| Spy Kids |
Devlin |
|
| 2002 |
Confessions of a
Dangerous Mind |
CIA Officer Jim Byrd |
Also director |
| Solaris |
Chris Kelvin |
Nominated — Saturn Award
for Best Actor |
| Welcome to
Collinwood |
Jerzy |
Also producer |
| Starbuck Holger Meins |
|
Documentary |
| 2003 |
Intolerable
Cruelty |
Miles Massey |
|
| Spy Kids 3-D: Game
Over |
Devlin |
|
| 2004 |
Ocean's Twelve |
Danny Ocean |
Nominated — Broadcast
Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast |
| 2005 |
Good Night, and Good
Luck |
Fred Friendly |
Golden Osella for Best
Screenplay
Satellite
Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated — Academy Award
for Writing
Nomination — BAFTA Award for Best
Original Screenplay
Nominated — BAFTA Award for
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated — BFCA Critics' Choice
Award for Best Writer
Nominated —
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original
Screenplay
Nominated — Chicago
Film Critics Association Award for Best Director
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for
Best Director
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for
Best Screenplay
Nominated — Gotham Award for Best
Cast
Nominated —
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in
a Motion Picture
Nominated — Washington
D.C. Area Film Critics
Association Award for Best Screenplay
Nominated — Writers
Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay |
| Syriana |
Bob Barnes |
Academy
Award for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion
Picture
Nominated — BAFTA Award for
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated —
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting
Actor
Nominated —
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male
Actor in a Supporting Role |
| 2006 |
The Good German |
Jake Geismar |
|
| 2007 |
Michael
Clayton |
Michael Clayton |
National Board of
Review Award for Best Actor
San
Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
San
Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay
Washington
D.C. Area Film Critics
Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award
for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Broadcast
Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Chicago
Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden
Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — London Film
Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Online Film
Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated —
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male
Actor in a Leading Role |
| Darfur Now |
Himself |
|
| Ocean's Thirteen |
Danny Ocean |
|
| 2008 |
Leatherheads |
Jimmy "Dodge" Connelly |
Co-writer (uncredited) |
| Burn After
Reading |
Harry Pfarrer |
|
| 2009 |
ER |
Dr. Doug Ross |
Final season |
| Fantastic Mr.
Fox |
Mr. Fox |
Voice only |
| The Men Who
Stare At Goats |
Lyn Cassady |
|
| Up in the Air |
Ryan Bingham |
Nominated -
Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or
Comedy |
| 2011 |
Farragut North |
|
In development |
| The American |
Jack |
Announced |
Director
Producer
References
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