George Clooney is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He is the recipient of three Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, one for acting in Syriana (2005) and the other for co-producing Argo (2012). In 2014, he was the recipient of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award.
Table of Contents:
1. Early life and education
2. Career
3. Filmography
4. Awards and nominations
5. Personal life
6. In the media
7. Top George Clooney Quotes
Early life and education:
George Timothy Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky, to Nina Bruce (née Warren), a former beauty queen, and Nick Clooney, a former anchorman and game show host (who was also the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney). He has Irish, English, and German ancestry. His maternal great-great-great-great-grandmother, Mary Ann Sparrow, was the half-sister of Nancy Lincoln, mother of President Abraham Lincoln. Clooney has a younger sister named Adelia. His mother’s ancestry was mostly English and German, with some Irish. His father’s ancestry is Irish, German, and English.
Clooney was raised a strict Roman Catholic, but said in 2006 that he does not know if he believes in Heaven, or even God. He has said, “Yes, we were Catholic, big-time, whole family. whole group. It’s a giant family. I actually broke off and went to another church with a friend of mine, the Presbyterian church.” He has stated that he “would not want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood,” referring to the crucifixion of Jesus.
Clooney was brought up in a traditional Irish-American Catholic family. His father worked as a local television news anchor for WKYT-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, and later for Cincinnati’s WLWT-TV (then known as Cincinnati’s NBC affiliate, WLWT) until 1984. Clooney’s first acting role was as an extra in the television miniseries Centennial (1978), which was based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener and was partly filmed in Fort Knox, Kentucky, where Clooney’s father was stationed at the time with the U.S. Army. The miniseries, which starred Robert Conrad and Rich Little, was broadcast on NBC from 1978 to 1979.
Career:
Clooney’s first major role came in 1984 in the short-lived television series E/R, which starred his cousin, ER cast member Eriq La Salle. In 1988, Clooney played in the television miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove as Newt Call. He also had a supporting role in the ABC television series Roseanne, playing Darlene Conner’s boyfriend, Chris Traeger. Clooney also guest-starred on an episode of Sisters in 1989, in which he played Ted Hoffman, a man who marries one of the titular sisters (played by Swoosie Kurtz).
Clooney’s first film role was in the horror comedy Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988), in which he played Matt Stevens. He subsequently appeared in the comedy-drama The Facts of Life (1988), playing a handyman working alongsideJoanne Woodward, and the comedy Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988), in which he played a pizza delivery boy. In 1989, Clooney appeared in the comedy Look Who’s Talking, starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, playing the part of a bachelor and former male escort who becomes the love interest of a single mother (played by Alley).
In 1990, Clooney played in the drama Sunset, playing the part of Hollywood star George Valentin. In 1991, Clooney had a small role in the comedy-drama Out of Sight, playing a car thief who is stranded with a U.S. Marshal (played by Jennifer Lopez) after a failed heist. The following year, he co-starred with Nicole Kidman in the Queensland-set thriller Far and Away, playing an Irish immigrant who dreams of owning his own farm.
Filmography:
George Clooney has appeared in many films and television series over the years. Some of his most notable roles include:
-E/R (1984)
-Return to Lonesome Dove (1988)
-The Facts of Life (1988)
-Look Who’s Talking (1989)
-Sunset (1990)
-Out of Sight (1991)
-Far and Away (1992)
-The Peacemaker (1997)
-Three Kings (1999)
-O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
-Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
-Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
-Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
-Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
-Syriana (2005)
-The Good German (2006)
-Michael Clayton (2007)
-Burn After Reading (2008)
-Up in the Air (2009)
-The American (2010)
-The Ides of March (2011)
-Argo (2012)
-Gravity (2013)
-Tomorrowland (2015)
Awards and nominations:
Clooney has been nominated for and won many awards over the course of his career. Some of his most notable awards include:
-Three Golden Globe Awards
-Two Academy Awards
-AFI Lifetime Achievement Award
Clooney has also been nominated for several Emmy Awards, although he has yet to win one.
Personal life:
Clooney has been married three times. His first marriage was to Talia Balsam from 1989 to 1993. His second marriage was to actress and singer Amal Alamuddin from 2014 to present. Clooney has one child with Alamuddin, twins born in 2017. Clooney was also previously in a relationship with model and actress Kelly Preston from 1987 to 1989.
Clooney is a fervent supporter of several social and political causes. He is a visible advocate for human rights and has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since January 31, 2008. Clooney is also a supporter of gay rights and has spoken out against the Defense of Marriage Act.
Clooney has also been involved in several business ventures. In 2005, he co-founded the production company Section Eight with Grant Heslov. The company has produced several films and television series, including the Academy Award-winning film Argo (2012). Clooney is also a part-owner of the tequila company Casamigos.
In the media:
Clooney is one of the most recognizable actors in the world and is often considered to be a sex symbol. He has been named “Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine twice, in 1997 and 2006. Clooney is also one of the highest-paid actors in the world, commanding a salary of $20 million per film.
Clooney has also been the subject of several jokes and spoofs over the years. In 2003, he was the target of an Internet hoax that claimed he had been killed in a car accident. Clooney has also been the subject of several SNL sketches and has been impersonated by Darrell Hammond, Will Ferrell, and Fred Armisen.
Top George Clooney Quotes
“Life’s better with company. Everybody needs a co-pilot.” -George Clooney
“I think it’s the most responsible thing you can do, to have kids. It’s not something to be taken lightly. I don’t have that gene that people have to replicate.” -George Clooney
“Most of the time, I’m working in places I’m not familiar with. Sometimes it’s Slovakia, and sometimes it’s Hawaii. Not to bash on Slovakia, but I really did enjoy Hawaii.” -George Clooney
“If you don’t drink coffee, I am suspicious of your character and will not invite you to my Italian lake home.” -George Clooney
“I’m the old-fashioned type who prefers to meet a woman in a more normal setting. I don’t like to feel that I’m being hunted down. I’ve always liked to do my own hunting when it comes to meeting women.” -George Clooney
“The idea that every time you do a film you’re supposed to be tortured confuses me. I mean, guys who say, ‘Oh, it’s really tough, my character is really suffering’ -come on. For us, even in the rotten ones we’ve had a good time. I don’t think you have to suffer.” -George Clooney
“There is a strange pecking order among actors. Theatre actors look down on film actors, who look down on TV actors. Thank God for reality shows, or we wouldn’t have anybody to look down on.” -George Clooney
“My life isn’t focused on results. My life is really focused on the process of doing all the things I’m doing, from work to relationships to friendships to charitable work.” -George Clooney
“Peace is a fulltime job. It’s protecting civilians, overseeing elections, and disarming ex-combatants. Peace, like war, must be waged.” -George Clooney
“I don’t know if winning at any cost is wrong or not. There are times I’ve thought that the end justified the means.” -George Clooney
“I don’t believe in heaven and hell. I don’t know if I believe in God. All I know is that as an individual, I won’t allow this life – the only thing I know to exist – to be wasted.” -George Clooney
“Directing is really exciting. In the end, it’s more fun to be the painter than the paint.” -George Clooney
“We’re in a tight spot!” -George Clooney
“Over the years, over the history of our country, liberals have stood on many of the right sides of the issues.” -George Clooney
“I’ve certainly done some turkeys along the way and made some dumb choices in my career, mostly early on. I’m one of the lucky ones who got to make a lot of mistakes very early when no one was paying attention.” -George Clooney
“The only failure is not to try.” -George Clooney
“I enjoy directing. I don’t know whether it’s improving or not, but it’s certainly evolving in different directions.” -George Clooney
“I think you should automatically donate your organs because that would turn the balance of organ donation in a huge way. I would donate whatever anybody would take, and I’d probably do the cremation bit.” -George Clooney
“I don’t believe in happy endings but I believe in happy journeys.” -George Clooney
“I’m so lucky to have been raised the way I have, because my parents believed that everyone had the right to their own feelings, opinions, and existence; as long as they weren’t harming others, you had to defend those rights.” -George Clooney
“I don’t know of an actor that the Coen brothers would come to and say, “Hey, I’ve got a movie for you to be in, if you want to do it,” that would say, “No.” That’s the truth.” -George Clooney
“I think people in Italy live their lives better than we do. It’s an older country, and they’ve learned to celebrate dinner and lunch, whereas we sort of eat as quickly as we can to get through it.” -George Clooney
“I don’t mind what they say as long as they’re not being mean.” -George Clooney
“If people see me having dinner with a beautiful woman, they immediately believe that I’m having a love affair with her. Of course that’s rubbish. I’m not a playboy!” -George Clooney
“In the United States 95% of the people who win elections have the most money. That’s it. So, money is a big part of elections. But that happens all the time.” -George Clooney
“You have only a short period of time in your life to make your mark, and I’m there now.” -George Clooney
“Hosting is work. It means you don’t get to go up to your room and disappear and take a nap. Like everybody else does after lunch. I’m talking about hosting, not hosting a dinner party, but hosting people staying in your home.” -George Clooney
“I’m really white trash.” -George Clooney
“I have a real interest in pushing some of the limits of things that studios don’t want to make.” -George Clooney
“They say I was a bad Batman, that it was my fault, that I buried the franchise. But the truth is, it was a big project. I was pretty intimidated in that world. I did the best I could in the situation I was given.” -George Clooney
“I had to stop going to auditions thinking, ‘Oh, I hope they like me.’ I had to go in thinking I was the answer to their problem.” -George Clooney
“I’m not quite sure what the santicity of marriage is.” -George Clooney
“It’s not ideal to have three films coming out at once.” -George Clooney
“The timing for directing is usually because it takes that long to develop a piece and then do pre-production and then post-production. It takes at least a couple of years. I prefer directing to doing other things. Directing and writing seem to be infinitely more creative.” -George Clooney
“If I had been with all the women that I was said to have been with, I wouldn’t have had the time to shoot a single movie!” -George Clooney
“You never really learn much from hearing yourself speak.” -George Clooney
“I enjoy going on motorcycle trips and stopping in small towns and enjoying drinks with the locals.” -George Clooney
“If you’re going to do a romantic comedy it was about housing it in something that we haven’t seen before.” -George Clooney
“An acting career usually has about a shelf life of ten years before people get sick of seeing you. It’s a good thing to have a job to fall back on and I really do enjoy directing.” -George Clooney
“Oceans is about glamour. I can’t go looking like a slob can I?” -George Clooney
“After a while, you just want transportation, and things like cool cars or motorcycles are all about getting attention. I get all the attention I could ever need, so I kind of like being in a minivan and people not paying so much attention to me.” -George Clooney
“Whatever you do, don’t wake up at 65 years old and think about what you should have done with your life.” -George Clooney
“The last real movie stars were probably Redford and Newman. And things were different then. There wasn’t this amazing amount of magazines and information about them.” -George Clooney
“Directing is much more satisfying to me than acting.” -George Clooney
“In the time that we’re here today, more women and children will die violently in the Darfur region than in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Israel or Lebanon. So, after September 30, you won’t need the UN – you will simply need men with shovels and bleached white linen and headstones.” -George Clooney
“I grew up at a time where I think most people had a social and political conscience. Some of the biggest changes in our country’s political history happened at the time I was growing up, so I was raised to be a part of those things and to participate and I will continue to do that as much as I can.” -George Clooney
“It’s very hard when the product your selling to an entire country is yourself and you’re just selling the hell out of it all the time. But politicians have a tremendous amount of ego to be able to do it.” -George Clooney
“We’re picking on people we can beat.” -George Clooney
“The first thing that I learned – and I understood it at a really young age – was that I could get a laugh. Really early. Because my mother and father are funny.” -George Clooney
“I get asked a lot about getting into politics. I say, ‘Take a look at politics. You tell me what seems appealing about that.’” -George Clooney
Sources: Wikipedia Imdb Britannica Rotten Tomatoes Times of India People Forbes Hello Magazine Independent EW