Clooney was raised a strict Roman Catholic[24] but said in 1998 that he did not know if he believed "in Heaven or even God."[25] He has said, "Yes, we were Catholic, big-time, whole family, whole group."[26] He began his education at the Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. He attended St. Michael's School in Worthington, Ohio; then Western Row Elementary School (a public school) in Mason, Ohio, from 1968 to 1974; and St. Susanna School in Mason, where he served as an altar boy. The Clooneys moved back to Kentucky when George was midway through the seventh grade.[27] In middle school, Clooney developed Bell's palsy, a medical condition that partially paralyzes the face. The malady went away within a year. In an interview with Larry King, he stated that "yes, it goes away. It takes about nine months to go away. It was the first year of high school, which was a bad time for having half your face paralyzed."[26] He also described one positive outcome of the condition: "It's probably a great thing that it happened to me because it forced me to engage in a series of making fun of myself. And I think that's an important part of being famous. The practical jokes have to be aimed at you."[28]
After his parents moved to Augusta, Kentucky, Clooney attended Augusta High School. He has stated that he earned all As and a B in school,[14] and played baseball and basketball. He tried out to play professional baseball with the Cincinnati Reds in 1977, but he did not pass the first round of player cuts and was not offered a contract.[29] He attended Northern Kentucky University from 1979 to 1981, majoring in broadcast journalism, and very briefly attended the University of Cincinnati, but did not graduate from either.[30] He earned money selling women's shoes, selling insurance door to door, stocking shelves, working in construction, and cutting tobacco.[25][31]
Clooney's first role was as an extra in the television miniseries Centennial in 1978, which was based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener and was partly filmed in Clooney's hometown of Augusta, Kentucky.[32][33] Clooney's first major role came in 1984 in the short-lived CBS sitcom E/R (not to be confused with ER, the long-running medical drama). He played a handyman on the series The Facts of Life and appeared as Bobby Hopkins, a detective, on an episode of The Golden Girls. His first prominent role was a semi-regular supporting role in the sitcom Roseanne, playing Roseanne Barr's supervisor Booker Brooks, followed by the role of a construction worker on Baby Talk, a co-starring role on the CBS drama Bodies of Evidence as Detective Ryan Walker, and then a year-long turn as Det. James Falconer on Sisters. In 1988, Clooney played one of the lead roles in the comedy-horror film Return of the Killer Tomatoes.[34] In 1990, he starred in the short-lived ABC police drama Sunset Beat.[35] During this period, Clooney was a student at the Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school for five years.[36]
The following year In 2001, Clooney reunited with Soderbergh for the heist comedy Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960s Rat Pack film of the same name, with Clooney playing Danny Ocean, originally portrayed by Frank Sinatra. The film starred Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon and Andy Garcia. The film cemented Clooney as a leading film star. It is Clooney's most successful film with him in the lead role, earning $451 million worldwide (he appeared, but did not star, in Gravity, which has a $723 million worldwide box office).[46][47]Ocean's Eleven inspired two sequels starring Clooney, Ocean's Twelve in 2004[48] and Ocean's Thirteen in 2007.[49] In 2001, Clooney and Soderbergh co-founded Section Eight Productions, for which Grant Heslov was president of television.
The following year he would work with Soderbergh yet again in the science fiction drama Solaris (2002) an adaptation of the acclaimed 1972 film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Roger Ebert praised the film and Clooney, writing: "Clooney has successfully survived being named People magazine's sexiest man alive by deliberately choosing projects that ignore that image. His alliance with Soderbergh, both as an actor and co-producer, shows a taste for challenge."[50] That same year Clooney made his directorial debut in the 2002 film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on the autobiography of TV producer Chuck Barris. The film premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. Though the film did not do well at the box office, critics stated that Clooney's directing showed promise.[51]
In 2003, Clooney reunited with the Coen brothers in the romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones. Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times praised their chemistry and the casting of Clooney in the role writing, "the good work comes from George Clooney, who happens to have the Art Deco profile fit for a 1930s comedy. He scores with his willingness to mock his above-average charisma level and the chiseled chin, cover-guy good looks".[52]
In 2005, Clooney starred in Syriana, which was based loosely on former Central Intelligence Agency agent Robert Baer's memoirs of his service in the Middle East. Clooney suffered an accident on the set of Syriana, which caused a brain injury with complications from a punctured dura.[53] 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. 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 won the Oscar for his role in Syriana.[54]
Clooney next appeared in The Good German (2006), a film noir directed by Soderbergh that is set in post-World War II Germany. In August 2006, Clooney and Heslov started the production company Smokehouse Pictures. In October 2006, Clooney received the American Cinematheque Award, which honors someone in the entertainment industry who has made "a significant contribution to the art of motion pictures".[55] On January 22, 2008, Clooney was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for Michael Clayton (2007) losing to Daniel Day-Lewis who won for Paul Thomas Anderson's drama There Will Be Blood (2007).
Later that year, he directed his third film, Leatherheads, in which he also starred. On April 4, 2008, Variety reported that Clooney had quietly resigned from the Writers Guild of America over a dispute concerning Leatherheads. Clooney, who is the director, producer and star of the film, claimed that he had contributed in writing "all but two scenes" of it, and requested a writing credit alongside Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, who had worked on the screenplay for 17 years. Clooney lost an arbitration vote 2–1, and withdrew from the union over the decision. He became a "financial core status" non-member, meaning he no longer has voting rights, and cannot run for office or attend membership meetings, according to the Writers Guild of America's constitution.[56]
In 2013, Clooney co-founded Casamigos Tequila with Rande Gerber and Michael Meldman.[62] It was sold to Diageo for $700 million in June 2017, with an additional $300 million possible depending on the company's performance over the next ten years.[63] According to the Forbes annual ranking, he was the world's highest-paid actor for 2017–2018, earning $239 million between June 1, 2017, and June 1, 2018.[64]
In 2014, Clooney co-wrote, directed and starred in The Monuments Men, an adaptation of The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel.[65] The film starred an ensemble cast of A-list stars including Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Bob Balaban, as well as European stars Hugh Bonneville and Jean Dujardin. The film was a critical misfire and a box office failure.[66] Many historians were critical of the film for its historical inaccuracies. The Guardian film critic Andrew Pulver, panned the film writing, that the film was "filled with unearned patriotic sentiment, sketchy to the point of inanity, and interrupted every few minutes with neurotic self-justification".[67] That same year, Clooney produced August: Osage County (2013), an adaptation of the play of the same name. The film stars Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.[68]
His next film was Tomorrowland (2015), a science fiction adventure film in which he played Frank Walker, an inventor.[69] Later in the year, he was featured as himself in the Netflix Christmas musical comedy A Very Murray Christmas, starring Bill Murray.[70] The following year, he starred in Hail, Caesar!, a comedy from the Coen brothers set in the Hollywood film industry in the 1950s, which premiered in February 2016. Clooney portrayed Baird Whitlock, a Robert Taylor-type film star who is kidnapped during the production of a film. Josh Brolin co-starred as fixerEddie Mannix.[71] Clooney reunited with Julia Roberts for the Jodie Foster-directed thriller Money Monster (2016), playing the host of a television show that investigates conspiracies on commerce and Wall Street, who is taken hostage by a bankrupt viewer given a bad tip.[72]
Clooney re-teamed with Brad Pitt for the 2024 thriller film Wolfs written and directed by Jon Watts.[87] In 2024, he was cast in the lead role in Noah Baumbach's untitled film for Netflix.[88] In 2025, Clooney is set to make his Broadway debut as an actor and playwright in a stage adaption of his film Good Night, and Good Luck.[89]
Clooney has also made humorous statements against Republican Party figures. In 2006, Clooney sarcastically thanked Jack Abramoff at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards before concluding with "Who would name their kid 'Jack' with 'off' at the end? No wonder the guy's screwed up".[98] Clooney has also described Republican donor Steve Wynn as an "asshole" and a "jackass", after the two had a heated disagreement over the Affordable Care Act.[99]
On August 7, 2020, George and Amal Clooney donated $100,000 to three Lebanese charities after the capital, Beirut, was left devastated by a deadly explosion. They donated money to the Lebanese Red Cross, Impact Lebanon, and Baytna Baytak. The blast claimed the lives of at least 145 people and injured more than 5,000.[108]
Clooney has advocated a resolution of the Darfur conflict.[109] He spoke at a 2006 Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C. In April 2006, he spent ten days in Chad and Sudan with his father to make the TV special A Journey to Darfur reflecting the situation of Darfur's refugees, and advocated for action. The documentary was broadcast on American cable TV as well as in the UK and France. In 2008, it was released on DVD, with the sale proceeds being donated to the International Rescue Committee.[110][111][112][113] In September of the same year, he spoke to the UN Security Council with Nobel Prize-winner Elie Wiesel to ask the UN to find a solution to the conflict and to help the people of Darfur.[114] In December, he visited China and Egypt with Don Cheadle and two Olympic winners to ask both governments to pressure Sudan's government.[115]
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 given the failure of Sudan President Omar al-Bashir to respond to UN resolutions.[116] He narrated and was co-executive producer of the 2007 documentary Sand and Sorrow.[117] Clooney also appeared in the documentary film Darfur Now, a call-to-action film released in November 2007 for people all over the world to help stop the Darfur crisis.[118] In December 2007, Clooney and fellow actor Don Cheadle received the Summit Peace Award from the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome. In his acceptance speech, Clooney said that "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."[119] On January 18, 2008, the United Nations announced Clooney's appointment as a UN messenger of peace, effective January 31.[10][11]
Clooney conceived of and, with John Prendergast—human rights activist, co-founder of the Enough Project, and Strategic Advisor for Not on Our Watch Project—initiated the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP), after an October 2010 trip to South Sudan. SSP aims to monitor armed activity for signs of renewed civil war between Sudan and South Sudan, and to detect and deter mass atrocities along the border regions there.[120]
Clooney and Prendergast co-wrote a Washington Post op-ed piece in May 2011, titled "Dancing with a dictator in Sudan", arguing that:
President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, is escalating bombing and food aid obstruction in Darfur, and he now threatens the entire north-south peace process ... the evidence shows that incentives alone are insufficient to change Khartoum's calculations. International support should be sought immediately for denying debt relief, expanding the ICC indictments, diplomatically isolating the regime, suspending all non-humanitarian aid, obstructing state-controlled bank transactions and freezing accounts holding oil wealth diverted by senior regime officials.[121]
On March 16, 2012, Clooney was arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy for civil disobedience.[122][123] He intended to be arrested when he planned the protest.[123] Several other prominent participants were also arrested, including Martin Luther King III.[123] Clooney has been described as one of the most strident critics of Omar al-Bashir.[124]
Clooney supports recognition of the Armenian genocide. He is one of the chief associates of the 100 Lives Initiative, a project which aims to remember the lives lost during the event.[125] As part of the initiative, Clooney launched the Aurora Prize, which awards to those who risk their lives to prevent genocides and atrocities.[125][126] Clooney had also urged various American government officials to support the United States' recognition of the Armenian Genocide.[126] He also visited Armenia to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the event in April 2016.[127]
In May 2015, Clooney told the BBC that the Syrian conflict was too complicated politically to get involved in and he wanted to focus on helping the refugees.[128] In March 2016, he and his wife Amal met with Syrian refugees living in Berlin to mark the fifth anniversary of the conflict, before meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel to thank her for Germany's open-door policy.[129]
Clooney is a supporter of LGBT rights.[131] On March 28, 2019, Clooney wrote an open letter calling for the boycott of the Sultan of Brunei's hotels over a new law that came into force on April 3, 2019, that punishes homosexual sex and adultery with death by stoning. Clooney lists nine hotels including The Dorchester, 45 Park Lane, Coworth Park, The Beverly Hills Hotel, Hotel Bel-Air, Le Meurice, Hotel Plaza Athenee, Hotel Eden and Hotel Principe di Savoia and asks readers to consider how "we are putting money directly into the pockets of men who choose to stone and whip to death their own citizens for being gay or accused of adultery."[132][133]
Clooney dated actress Kelly Preston (1987–1989). During this relationship, he purchased a Vietnamese Pot-belliedpig named Max as a gift for Preston, but when their relationship ended, Clooney kept the pig for an additional 18 years until Max died in 2006. He has jokingly referred to Max as the longest relationship he had ever had.[134]
Clooney became engaged to British-Lebanese human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin on April 28, 2014.[151][152] He subsequently said they forged a strong bond because of their interest in campaigning work, and particularly over the issue of the Elgin Marbles, when she was acting for the government of Greece in support of their return from the British Museum and he, while promoting his film The Monuments Men, had argued for this and been criticised by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.[153]
In July 2014, Clooney publicly mocked the British tabloid newspaper Daily Mail after it claimed his fiancée's mother opposes their marriage on religious grounds.[154] When the tabloid apologized for its false story, Clooney refused to accept the apology. He called the paper "the worst kind of tabloid. One that makes up its facts to the detriment of its readers."[155] On August 7, 2014, Clooney and Alamuddin obtained marriage licenses at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea of the United Kingdom.[156] Alamuddin and Clooney were officially married on September 27, 2014, at Ca' Farsetti.[157] They were married by Clooney's friend Walter Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome.[158]
In 2015, Clooney and Alamuddin adopted a rescue dog, a Basset Hound named Millie, from the San Gabriel Valley Humane Society.[159]
On February 9, 2017, it was reported by the CBS talk show, The Talk, that Amal was pregnant, and that they were expecting twins.[160] On June 6, 2017, Amal gave birth to a daughter, Ella, and a son, Alexander.[161] In 2020, Clooney revealed to Jimmy Kimmel and Graham Norton in their respectivetalk shows that the twins can speak Italian fluently, despite both Clooney and Alamuddin not speaking the language.[162]
Clooney has property in Los Angeles. He purchased the 7,354-square-foot (683.2 m2) house in 1995 through his George Guilfoyle Trust. His home in Italy is in the village of Laglio, on Lake Como,[163] near the former residence of Italian author Ada Negri.[164] Clooney also owns a home in Los Cabos, Mexico, that is next door to the home of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber.[165] In 2014, Clooney and his wife Amal Alamuddin bought the Grade II listed[166] Mill House on an island in the River Thames at Sonning Eye in Oxfordshire, England[167] at a cost of around £10 million.[168] In May 2021, The Economic Times reported Clooney plans to buy a vineyard near the village of Brignoles, in France, which includes an 18th-century manor with its own swimming pool and a tennis court.[169]
On September 21, 2007, Clooney and then-girlfriend Sarah Larson were injured in a motorcycle accident in Weehawken, New Jersey, when his motorcycle was hit by a car. The driver of the car reported that Clooney attempted to pass him on the right,[170] while Clooney said that the driver signaled left and then decided to make an abrupt right turn and clipped his motorcycle. On October 9, 2007, more than two dozen staff at Palisades Medical Center were suspended without pay for looking at Clooney's medical records in violation of federal law.[171]
On July 10, 2018, Clooney was hit by a car while riding a motorcycle to a film set in Sardinia. He was hospitalized with minor injuries.[172][173]
In November 2021, Clooney wrote an op-ed to British tabloid The Daily Mail, petitioning them to stop publishing photos of his children, highlighting that his wife is an international lawyer who works "confronting and putting on trial terrorist groups" and that the tabloid was endangering their lives. In 2014, Clooney had rejected an apology from the Daily Mail for printing a false story, calling the Mail the "worst kind of tabloid."[178]
Clooney has appeared in commercials outside the U.S. for Fiat, Nespresso, Martini vermouth, Omega, Warburtons and DNB ASA Eiendom (a Norwegian bank and real estate agency).[179][180][181][182][183][184] Clooney was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2007, 2008 and 2009.[185][186][187] He is sometimes described as one of the most handsome men in the world.[188][189] In 2005, TV Guide ranked Clooney No. 1 on its "50 Sexiest Stars of All Time" list.[190] The cover story in a February 2008 issue of Time was headlined with: "George Clooney: The Last Movie Star".[191]
^Breznican, Anthony (October 22, 2020). "George Clooney: Keep Fighting For Kentucky and Other Red States". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021. Growing up as a Democrat in Kentucky helped George Clooney get used to fighting impossible battles. With the presidential election fast approaching, the activist and actor says progressives should not give up on fighting for deep red states—even if the challenge seems insurmountable [...] "I've always been involved in Democratic politics since I was raised a Democrat in Kentucky. So imagine how much fun it was for me," said the actor, whose mother was active in city politics while his father ran unsuccessfully for congress in 2004, in an interview with Vanity Fair about his upcoming film, The Midnight Sky.
^Amanda N'Duka (June 24, 2019). "George Clooney To Direct & Star In Film Adaptation Of 'Good Morning, Midnight' Novel For Netflix". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021. The streamer said Monday that two-time Oscar winner George Clooney is attached to direct and star in a feature based on Lily Brooks-Dalton's 2016 novel Good Morning, Midnight, which was adapted for screen by The Revenant scribe Mark L. Smith.
^Kristof, Nicholas (February 21, 2009). "Sisters, Victims, Heroes". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
^"AmericanLife TV Network (ALN) Donates Proceeds From "A Journey to Darfur" DVD to the International Rescue Committee". Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) "In addition to premiering on AmericanLife TV Network, "A Journey to Darfur" has aired on The Community Channel in England and France 2. The documentary has also been shown at festivals and schools around the world, including, The second Refugee Film Festival in Tokyo presented by the UNHCR, Ilaria Alpi Journalistic Television Award based in Riccione, Italy, Milano Doc Festival, and the Human Rights Nights Film Festival in Bologna, Italy."
^"For George Clooney, life will never be the same". Reno Gazette-Journal. September 24, 1995. Archived from the original on July 31, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2020. Dr. Ross also will date a variety of women this fall, Wells says. That's not unlike Clooney's past year, when he was linked to Frances Fisher (Unforgiven) and Cameron Diaz (The Mask), to name two.