George Clooney

BORN: May 6, 1961; Lexington, Kentucky

Though Clooney made a big impression as Dr. Doug Ross in the television seriesERduring the 1990s, he shifted the focus of his career to films in the 2000s. His success at the box office made him a Hollywood icon. In addition to his work as an actor, Clooney has also worked as a producer and director. Additionally he has leveraged his celebrity status to bring attention to various political issues and humanitarian causes.

Film Career

As an actor, George Clooney has played a variety of roles, including a superhero, fisherman, and escaped convict. His 2000 performance in the musical comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? was a commercial and critical success. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, the film is a Depression-era adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. Clooney plays a convict who leads a group of fellow escapees to his hidden loot. His performance earned him a Golden Globe Award for best actor.

In 2001, Clooney starred with Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts in the blockbuster film Ocean’s Eleven, a remake of a film originally released in 1960. Clooney plays Danny Ocean, who helps organize a casino heist. Clooney also stars in the film’s two sequels, Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007). Clooney received praise for his role as the captain of a doomed fishing boat in The Perfect Storm (2000), which costarred Mark Wahlberg and Diane Lane and was inspired by the real-life "Perfect Storm" that hit the eastern seabord of the United States in 1991.

Clooney won the Academy Award for best supporting actor for his work in the thriller Syriana (2004), his first high-profile success as an executive producer. He suffered a serious head injury during filming, however, and underwent surgery to relieve excruciating headaches. In 2005, Clooney received Oscar nominations for best director and best original screenplay for Good Night, and Good Luck. He also acted in the film. Clooney received an Academy Award nomination for best actor for his work in Michael Clayton in 2007, and was nominated again in 2009 for Up in the Air. In 2013, he received the Academy Award for best picture as a producer of Argo, a political thriller taking place during the Iran hostage crisis. This made Clooney the only person to be nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories.

Continuing this trend of versatility, he cowrote, directed, and starred in The Monuments Men in 2014 before appearing in the science-fiction film Tomorrowland in 2015 and the critically lauded Coen brothers production Hail, Caesar! in 2016. After starring alongside Roberts in Money Monster that same year, he directed Damon, Oscar Isaac, and Julianne Moore in 2017's Suburbicon. In June 2018, he was honored with the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. The following year, he appeared in the miniseries adaptation of the classic Joseph Heller novel Catch-22 (1961), which was streamed on Hulu, in addition to serving as executive producer for all six episodes as well as director for two. In 2020, he directed and starred in the Netflix sci-fi drama The Midnight Sky, about an Arctic researcher trying to warn astronauts about a worldwide calamity.

As one of the best-known actors in Hollywood, Clooney has made numerous television appearances, and appeared regularly on the cover of entertainment and fashion magazines. In addition to media interest in his romantic involvements, his name has been included several times on People magazine lists of top bachelors and sexiest men. From 1989 to 1993, he was married to actress Talia Balsam. He married Amal Alamuddin, a human rights lawyer, in 2014; they welcomed twins, a boy and a girl, in the summer of 2017.

Humanitarian Works

Since becoming a successful actor, Clooney has been a vocal supporter of various political and social issues and humanitarian efforts. Clooney helped organize the benefit concert and telethon America: A Tribute to Heroes following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. The telethon raised more than $150 million for victims.

In 2006, the actor and his father, journalist Nick Clooney, made the documentary film A Journey to Darfur. During a dangerous nine-day trip to the Darfur region of Sudan, the pair filmed victims of the country’s civil war who were living without food, water, or shelter. The film tells the story of villages where wells were poisoned and women were raped by members of the militia fighting against the government. A Journey to Darfur, which also detailed the efforts of humanitarian aid workers, aired in 2007 on the AmericanLife TV Network.

Clooney and his father donated money for several projects in the Sudan, including projects designed to dig new wells and provide housing. Clooney has continued to use his celebrity status to bring attention to humanitarian crises and encourage politicians to commit resources to such causes.

With Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, David Pressman, and Jerry Weintraub, he cofounded Not On Our Watch (NOOW) in 2007. The nonprofit organization works to stop genocide and support human rights in such places as Burma, Darfur, and Zimbabwe. NOOW has provided humanitarian aid to Darfur, working with the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme; before NOOW provided funds for helicopters and planes, the UN aid program in Darfur was nearly shut down because trucks were being hijacked on the region’s unsecure roads. Clooney has also visited Darfur and Chad with UN representatives to draw attention to the plight of millions of people killed or displaced by the region’s civil war. In 2010, he cofounded the Satellite Sentinel Project, aimed at using satellite images to detect and draw attention to atrocities in Sudan as they arise.

Clooney also advocated on behalf of refugees of the Syrian conflict, urging Western governments to aid them and not to turn them away. He marked the fifth anniversary of the conflict in February 2016 by meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel to praise her open-door policy and recording the accounts of Syrian refugees living in Berlin of the hardships they suffered in their home country. Also focusing on issues in the United States, in 2018 he supported the effort for stricter gun control represented by the student-led March for Our Lives.

Impact

Once a well-known and popular television actor, Clooney has become one of the most famous and successful movie stars of his generation. He has become as well known for his films as for his work with politicians and aid organizations on the problems of violence and development in the Darfur region of Sudan. In 2011, he received an Academy Award nomination for best actor for his role in the The Descendants.

Bibliography

Avlon, John. “Clooney’s Not Kidding: Actor Adds ‘Arrested Activist’ to Credit Roll.” Newsweek, 20 Feb. 2011, www.newsweek.com/clooneys-not-kidding-actor-adds-arrested-activist-credit-roll-68527. Accessed 23 May 2024.

"George Clooney." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0000123/. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Clooney, George. "George Clooney: The Exit Interview." Interview by David Granger. Esquire, 20 Apr. 2016, www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a44148/george-clooney-the-exit-interview/. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Potts, Kimberly. George Clooney: The Last Great Movie Star. Rev. ed., Applause, 2011.

Saul, Heather. "Amal Clooney and George Clooney Meet with Refugees to Mark Fifth Anniversary of Syrian Crisis." Independent, 16 Mar. 2016, www.independent.co.uk/news/people/amal-clooney-and-george-clooney-meet-with-refugees-to-mark-fifth-anniversary-of-syrian-crisis-a6934041.html. Accessed 23 May 2024.

“Who We Are.” Not On Our Watch, notonourwatchproject.org/who‗we‗are. Accessed 11 July 2012.