George Clooney

Clooney married actress Talia Balsam in December 1989, and the marriage ended in divorce in September 1993. Following the separation, he publicly maintained that he would never marry again or have children, prompting friends Nicole Kidman and Michelle Pfeiffer to place bets with him regarding whether he would start a family.

In July 2013, Clooney met Lebanese-born British human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin through a mutual friend. The couple married in Venice, Italy, on September 27, 2014. In June 2017, they welcomed twins, Alexander and Ella. The family later took up residence in Cotignac in southern France, having previously spent considerable time at a villa on Lake Como in Italy, and became naturalized French citizens in 2025.

George Timothy Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky. He grew up in an entertainment and media household: his father, Nick Clooney, was a broadcast journalist and television host, while his aunt, Rosemary Clooney, was a renowned singer and actress. In 1974, his family settled in Augusta, Kentucky. During middle school, Clooney developed Bell's palsy, which caused temporary partial facial paralysis. An active athlete in his youth, he earned a tryout with the Cincinnati Reds baseball team at age 16 but was not offered a contract.

After attending Northern Kentucky University to study broadcast journalism, Clooney dropped out in 1981 and worked odd jobs, including harvesting tobacco and selling shoes. His cousin Miguel Ferrer offered him minor work on a film shoot in Kentucky, inspiring him to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Clooney spent years in television, taking recurring roles on series such as The Facts of Life, Roseanne, and Sisters. His career transformed in 1994 when he was cast as pediatrician Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama ER. The role brought him international recognition, two Emmy Award nominations, and three Golden Globe nominations before he left the main cast in 1999.

While balancing his television schedule on ER, Clooney transitioned into feature films, starring in Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), the romantic comedy One Fine Day (1996) alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, and as the title hero in Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997). In 1998, he starred alongside Jennifer Lopez in Steven Soderbergh's crime comedy Out of Sight, marking the beginning of a key creative collaboration.

Clooney went on to star in David O. Russell's Three Kings (1999) and the Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), for which he won a Golden Globe Award. In 2001, he reteamed with Soderbergh to lead an ensemble cast in Ocean's Eleven, portraying master thief Danny Ocean alongside Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts. The box-office hit led to sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007).

Clooney made his feature directorial debut with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), produced through Section Eight Productions, a company he co-founded with Steven Soderbergh. In 2005, he cowrote, directed, and appeared in Good Night, and Good Luck, a black-and-white historical drama about journalist Edward R. Murrow's clash with Senator Joseph McCarthy. The film earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. That same year, he starred in the geopolitical thriller Syriana, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as CIA officer Bob Barnes.

Clooney went on to form the production company Smokehouse Pictures with Grant Heslov in 2006. He earned further Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for his performances in Michael Clayton (2007), Jason Reitman's Up in the Air (2009), and Alexander Payne's The Descendants (2011). In 2011, he directed, cowrote, and starred in the political drama The Ides of March. As a producer on Ben Affleck's Argo (2012), Clooney won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Clooney starred alongside Sandra Bullock in the science-fiction thriller Gravity (2013) and directed historical dramas such as The Monuments Men (2014) and The Boys in the Boat (2023). He returned to television acting and directing with the 2019 miniseries adaptation of Catch-22, playing Scheisskopf. In 2020, he directed and starred in Netflix's The Midnight Sky, followed by directing the drama The Tender Bar in 2021.

Reuniting with frequent collaborators, Clooney costarred with Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise (2022) and with Brad Pitt in the action-comedy Wolfs (2024). In 2025, Clooney made his Broadway debut starring as Edward R. Murrow in a stage adaptation of Good Night, and Good Luck, earning a Tony Award nomination.

Clooney has engaged in political activism and humanitarian initiatives throughout his career. In 2006, he and his father traveled to the Darfur region of Sudan to document the effects of the humanitarian crisis, airing footage on major networks to raise awareness. Alongside Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Don Cheadle, he co-founded the non-profit organization Not On Our Watch. In 2008, the United Nations appointed him a Messenger of Peace.

Clooney organized major televised fundraising efforts, including aid drives following the September 11 attacks and the Hope for Haiti telethon following the 2010 earthquake. In March 2012, he was arrested for civil disobedience during a protest outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington, D.C.